Kumasi, July 19, GNA – Dr Angela Lusigi, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Ghana, has stressed the need for the youth to acquire and cultivate a new set of intelligence and skills.
This, according to her, would help them to keep up with the lightening-pace of the changing world.
“With the exponential rise in technological advancements, the skills gap is widening.
Technological ability is currently considered the most important skill required.
The value of technological competence cannot be underestimated, and these skills of the future must go beyond technological competence,” Dr Lusigi, stated these at a ceremony to mark the 2022 World Youth Skills Day.
She pointed out that digital, relational, and collective intelligences could drive the skills that the youth required to unlock current and future opportunities.
The World Youth Skills Day is celebrated on July 15 every year, to recognize the importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work, and entrepreneurship.
This year’s celebration was held under the theme ‘Transforming Youth Skills for the Future.’
Dr Lusigi said Africa, which had more than 70 per cent of the youth under age 30, had the chance to transform its future.
Despite the promise of transformation, she observed that most of the youth were either unemployed or underemployed with few prospects for decent and fulfilling work.
Dr Lusigi explaining the concepts of intelligence, said high digital intelligence would enable the youth to overcome the challenges and demands of digital life including application of new digital knowledge and skills, while maintaining a connection with real life.
Relational intelligence, on the other hand, would help the youth to protect human interaction.
“In today’s digital world, online acquaintances are often mistaken for real friends, affirmation is determined by the number of ‘likes’, and ‘influencers’ have become the new mentors.
Navigating social situations in a technologically advanced world calls for a high level of relational intelligence,” Dr Lusigi observed.
She said the concepts of collective intelligence recognised that everyone had skills, knowledge or areas of expertise that brought value to the group or people in focus.
She commended students from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the University of Cape Coast for developing Ghana’s first Artificial Intelligence (AI) robot to assist persons with disabilities.
Similarly, Tech Era, a social enterprise run by young people, is helping the youth to develop affordable and accessible assistive technology for people living with disabilities in Ghana.
In addition, iStammer app, a digital solution by young innovators connects stammers to speech therapists to enhance their speaking abilities, confidence and inclusion.
Dr Lusigi said these innovations showed that the youth were capable and could fully utilise digital knowledge as well as relational and collaboration skills.
Source: Ghana News Agency
