Scaling GoTeach/YouthLinks

4.2.1 YouthLinks - Digital Pillar of YouthCan!

As the world is turning more and more digital, so do also the needs of young people shift. In order to address this need and equip young people with the skills necessary for the world of tomorrow, YouthCan! has established its own "digital pillar":

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YouthLinks uses the power of technology to strengthen young peoples skills trough training, mentorship and networking opportunities, supporting them in becoming self-reliant.

Especially throughout challenging months of 2020, where global face-to-face activites had to be temporarily put on hold, the need to use digital means to connect young people with volunteers from the corporate side has been of enlarged need. Due to having had the YouthLinks-programme pillar put in place, YouthCan! could not only hold its offers to young people up, but even grow and scale total outreach (find more information here).

YouthLinks builds on the following functionalities:

Reaching limitations of the first YouthLinks digital platform hosted on Facebook Workplace due to increased scale of the digital pillar, SOS Children's Villages decided to build a new, advanced and professionalized virtual space to host activites - The YouthLinks Community Platform:

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After an initial pilot between October 2021 and April 2022, the platform's global roll-out to all SOS Children's Villages National Associations implementing the YouthCan! project has been conducted until the end of 2022. By now, around 70% of all YouthCan! countries have received training and access to the YouthLinks Community, and can thus also use the platform to coordinate activities under the umbrella of the GoTeach programme.

Gradually more countries and youth empowerment projects & initiatives in the SOS Children's Villages world are utilizing the platform to connect opportunities with young people supported by the organization - turning the YouthLinks Community into the central digital space for young people globally to access opportunities on their path to self reliance, under and beyond the YouthCan! and GoTeach project frames.

If you are interested and want to find out more, kindly get in touch with Martin Schmid, Global YouthLinks Advisor or click here.

Find out more about Online/Virtual Engagement and YouthLinks within the framework of GoTeach in the Activities-chapter of this Wiki. Also, access good practices here.

Chapter lead	Andrea Colchado