Youth employment

Young Futuremakers Malaysia - Promoting the career progression of young women through up/reskilling in STEM, including digital skills, and employment services

The Young Futuremakers Malaysia project is part of the Futuremakers by Standard Chartered initiative and aims at: (i) providing up/reskilling training opportunities, especially for young women, with a focus on industry demand-driven tech-oriented STEM and core skills towards their career advancement; and (ii) supporting TVET graduates’ labour market transition through awareness raising on up/reskilling and career opportunities as well as strengthened post-training employment services.

A young woman worker in Malaysia. © Shutterstock

Background

In Malaysia, the COVID-19 crisis has negatively impacted the labour market prospects of youth through disruptions to education and training, job disruptions through reduced working hours and unemployment, and disruptions in transitioning from school to work. These disruptions also risked exacerbating pre-existing inequalities, especially related to gender. Even before the crisis, young women in Malaysia were in a vulnerable labour market situation and encountered a rapidly changing world of work with changes in technology and skills demanded by employers, in addition to persisting gender disparities in the labour market and skills development. In response to these challenges, the ILO collaborates with Standard Chartered Foundation to implement the “Young Futuremakers Malaysia” project (2022-23) with a focus on promoting the employability of young women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) in Malaysia.

Objectives

The Young Futuremakers Malaysia project is part of the Futuremakers by Standard Chartered initiative. Anchored in the UN Global Initiative on Decent Jobs for Youth, the project takes a gender-responsive, systemic, and inclusive approach to strengthening existing labour market structures, services, and institutional capacities, while building linkages between government, training centres, employment offices, the private sector, and young people. The project aims to:
  • Improve employment-related knowledge and skills of young women and men, with a focus on industry demand-driven tech-oriented STEM and core skills towards their career advancement.
  • Improve labour market transitions of underprivileged female TVET graduates’ labour market transition through awareness raising on up/reskilling and career opportunities as well as strengthened post training employment services.