Young people from the Sacúdete program raise their voice in Cartagena

As part of the fourth edition of the Skills Summit of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the alarm bells of the Ring of Ideas have sounded for the 220 young participants in the Shake Up program of the Colombian Institute for Family Welfare (ICBF). Coming from different regions of the country and ready to sound their disruptive ideas, today they will finish demonstrating how with their skills it is possible to create solutions to the social challenges that arise at this time.

During the current day, attendees participate in mentorships to build the best proposals and present them in this segment that gives voice to adolescents and young people to convince juries of the need to apply their ideas in policies aimed at people, especially those of the most vulnerable communities.

“The Ring of Ideas is the part of the Shake Yourself methodology where young people demonstrate how positive leadership, multiple intelligences and 21st century skills are able to build solutions that reflect the transformative power of youth,” said Lina Arbeláez, ICBF Director General.

With this, participants representing the more than 10.5 million young people from all over Colombia, will not only have the opportunity until the end of the day to exchange experiences with their peers, but will share with the world how they have been able to create and strengthen their life projects in a legal and sustainable way.

Following the unprecedented health and economic crisis caused by COVID-19, the OECD has called on countries to renew their efforts to strengthen people's skills so that the most vulnerable can effectively respond to the challenges of a changing world, transforming to virtuality, sustainability and demographic change.

With this in mind, this year's theme that was proposed by Colombia and called “Strengthening Capacities for Equity and Sustainability”, seeks to open the doors to a frank and open debate that will allow senior officials of nations to elucidate solutions for employment, education, economic development and innovation.

With the letters on the table, the participants of the Colombian quota, including representatives of SENA, the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Education, the Migration Agency, the Border Agency, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, among others, share their experiences in plenary sessions, as well as in small, interactive debates to facilitate active and transparent discussions.

Yesterday was also the perfect setting for international guests such as Kate Behncken, vice president of Microsoft Philanthropies; Linda Darling-Hammond, professor at Stanford University Graduate School in Education and Nobel laureate economist James Heckman, to inspire attendees through conferences, the ultimate goal of which is to make it possible to achieve an exchange of learning to achieve better results in terms of skills policies that promote prosperity, equality, opportunities and well-being of all.

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