Upskilling our citizens creates inclusivity and sustained outcomes for society #itstime
The COVID-19 pandemic has created significant disruption and uncertainty for many students, contributing to anxiety about the future for some of them. The need to upskill and prepare youth for the workforce of today is essential in creating more inclusive and sustainable economies.
A study by UNICEF reported 31% of youth said that the skills and training offered to them didn’t match their career aspirations¹. Not only are youth uncertain about their future, but 74% of CEOs are concerned about the availability of key skills needed to thrive in a post-pandemic economy.² The report Upskilling for Shared Prosperity, launched by PwC and the World Economic Forum, makes a clear case for the opportunity presented by upskilling citizens in line with Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) industry best practices, leading to additional global GDP growth of US$6.5 trillion and the creation of 5.3 million net new jobs by 2030.
This opportunity requires governments, businesses, not-for-profits and the education sector to work together and prioritise upskilling now.
In line with PwC’s New world. New skills. initiative, PwC Mexico designed an online mentoring programme targeted at high school and college students in their last semester. The programme was designed to provide students with a diverse range of skills from vocational guidance, financial literacy, to developing skills for employability such as inclusive leadership and resilience.
The main objective of this programme was to help the students better understand work environments and empower them to make better decisions to become more inclusive leaders in both their personal and professional lives.
The programme ran from January 2021 until the end of June 2021. PwC Mexico employees volunteered their time and skills and worked with 64 students from three different schools: Fundación Mier y Pesado, Centro Meneses and Christel House Mexico. Mentoring was delivered virtually via video conference, email and phone, and the material and tools used to guide the experience was developed by PwC Mexico’s Talent Acquisition and Diversity and Inclusion teams.
Over the first four months, students were provided with weekly upskilling sessions organised by PwC Mexico’s Corporate Sustainability team, working in collaboration with teachers to ensure students were being reached. This was supported by the students' monthly one-on-one mentoring sessions with a PwC mentor over the full six months.
The themes each month addressed the following topics:
PwC is on its own digital transformation journey and is determined to equip our more than 295,000 people with new skills, digital tools and capabilities. This in turn enables our people to come together and apply their skills to support communities and help people to be fit for the future.
Working together to provide hope and support at a time when it was most needed #togetherwesolve
Through this programme, PwC Mexico made the following contributions:
The volunteers leveraged existing PwC materials and programmes such as:
‘For our students, when the world changed, their reality became even more difficult. Christel House has always supported them to find a way to get ahead, however, sometimes it is necessary to have extra support. The PwC volunteers came into our children's lives to be that outside voice telling them that, despite everything that was happening, there was still hope. Thank you for giving them confidence, for sharing your knowledge and transforming their lives.’
Teacher and student mentees from Christel House High School at their graduation.
Image: Christel House High school
¹UNICEF U-Report Poll
²PwCs 23rd Global Annual CEO Survey (PDF)Opens in a new window. 2020
