Empowering youth with UAE’s Masdar

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Khalid bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S), a Masdar outreach platform, invests in and actively supports the development of their most valuable asset, the youth, to shape them into the sustainability leaders of tomorrow.

Y4S came to be as a result of Masdar’s mission to stimulate further growth in cleantech and the wider renewable energy industry, allowing Masdar to do its part in creating new revenue streams in the UAE.

In an effort to support Masdar’s mission, together, Geek Express and Stratecis developed the Youth 4 Sustainability (Y4S) Skill Up App: a self-paced, gamified, and flexible way of learning, offering young people ages 15-35 who are passionate about sustainability the chance to learn new skills, and to become up-to-date with the future of green jobs, technological advancements and climate change.

Through the app, users watch animated videos, access reading materials, test their acquired knowledge with activity sheets, and complete quizzes. So far, the app has been home to more than 1,700 passionate youth, coming from more than 15 countries and from 42 different nationalities.

The benefits of Y4S Skill Up are:

•  42 hours of content
• 14 softs skills to improve falling under knowledge, personal, people, cognitive, and design thinking
• Access to an international community of sustainability ambassadors and enthusiasts
• New capabilities to advance in their workplace or to build their own ventures
• Certificate of completion
• Hands-on experience
• Engagement with motivational speakers, academics and entrepreneurs

The app, among other initiatives launched by Masdar, helps youth to recognize that they can in fact play a significant part in solving big sustainability-related problems.

The versatile content we put forth, equips these youngsters with knowledge and awareness on the one hand, and on the other, enables them with skills that will allow them to enter the workforce confidently.

It is through partnerships with like-minded entities that we can create a meaningful impact. We are proud to be an agent of change, and we hope we can continue to build spaces and create avenues that foster a learning culture for youth, and propel them forward.