Disclaimer:
Please be aware that the content herein has not been peer reviewed. It consists of personal reflections, insights, and learnings of the contributor(s). It may not be exhaustive, nor does it aim to be authoritative knowledge.
Learnings on your challenge
What are the top key insights you generated about your learning challenge during this Action Learning Plan? (Please list a maximum of 5 key insights)
Vietnam currently places a lot of emphasis on digital transformation. There is also greater focus on emerging sectors such as semi-conductors. As such, there is a need to understand whether youth are adequately equipped with the right skills to thrive in this future of work.
An initial literature review has highlighted a a pressing need for Vietnamese youth to acquire higher-order cognitive skills such as problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity, as well as socio-emotional skills like teamwork, communication, and leadership. These skills are crucial to accompany more technical skills such as coding.
Digital literacy and resilience are critical competencies for the youth to safely navigate the digital landscape. While there is some effort to teach these skills within the Vietnamese education system, there is still a need for more comprehensive research and development in this area. Ensuring that youth are digitally literate and resilient will empower them as global citizens in an increasingly interconnected world.
Greater focus needs to be placed on youth working in lower-skilled professions. Lower skilled workers will be disproportionately at risk of automation. It is also concerning that research points to higher displacement potential of those working in agriculture and lower-skilled manufacturing given that these sectors make up a large share of employment.
The literature also points to the need for a more inclusive and accessible job market, especially for youth with disabilities. It is crucial for policy makers and stakeholders to consider how big trends like the digital revolution and Industry 4.0 can be leveraged to create a job market that is accessible to all, including people with disabilities. This includes providing the necessary support and resources to ensure that all youth can participate fully in the future of work.
The workshops taking place in the coming year will continue to shed light on skill gaps for youth in the context for digital as well as provide a youth-centric vision of meaningful and decent work.
Considering the outcomes of this learning challenge, which of the following best describe the handover process? (Please select all that apply)
Our work has not yet scaled, Other
Can you provide more detail on your handover process?
This learning will continue over Q1 of last year. The Workshops to be conducted next year will provide greater insights on the trends relating to the future of work, on youth skills gaps to inform policy advocacy, programming and partnerships.
In this collaboration, the UNDP Accelerator Lab and Fulbright University Vietnam are working together to explore the future of work in Vietnam, particularly from the perspective of the youth and in the context of the digital revolution, technological progress, and Industry 4.0. Once the foresight workshops are conducted next year, the insights will be harvested into an accessible report. Based on the findings of this research, we will design activities that address the gaps identified. We will also explore options to partner with private sector to address the development challenges identified.
Please paste any link(s) to blog(s) or publication(s) that articulate the learnings on your frontier challenge.
Data and Methods
Relating to your types of data, why did you chose these? What gaps in available data were these addressing?
Why was it necessary to apply the above innovation method on your frontier challenge? How did these help you to unpack the system?
Horizon Scanning: This method will be used identify emerging trends and weak signals shaping the Future of Work in Vietnam, particularly from the perspective of youth in the context of the digital revolution, technological progress, and Industry 4.0. This will help to inform policy making, the design of education and training curricula
Driver Mapping: This method will be used to identify the political, economic, societal, technological, legislative, and environmental drivers shaping the future business environment. This will help us to identify which drivers of change will have a significant impact of the Future of Work. This will help stakeholders to anticipate and plan for these changes.
Visioning: This method will be used to help youth co-design and envision a future of work that they desire. This will help stakeholders validate whether their policies and plans regarding the future of work are in line with the desire of youth.
Partners
Please indicate what partners you have actually worked with for this learning challenge.
Please state the name of the partner:
Fulbright University Vietnam
What sector does your partner belong to?
Academia
Please provide a brief description of the partnership.
In this collaboration, the UNDP Accelerator Lab and Fulbright University Vietnam are working together to explore the future of work in Vietnam, particularly from the perspective of the youth and in the context of the digital revolution, technological progress, and Industry 4.0. The research aims to identify emerging trends, potential skill gaps, and ways to adapt education and vocational training systems to equip youth with relevant skills for the future of work. Fulbright University, through their network of students and employers and bringing together these groups for the workshops. We are co-designing the foresight workshops with Fulbright, also drawing from their strength in future studies.
Is this a new and unusual partner for UNDP?
No
End
Bonus question: How did the interplay of innovation methods, new forms of data and unusual partners enable you to learn & generate insights, that otherwise you would have not been able to achieve?
We are looking forward to comparing the insights gathered from these youth-centric, foresight workshops differ with macro-level labour market studies. To improve these types of research in the future, we would like to bring together more stakeholders, in particular policy makers. To be able to engage policy makers from the start of the process would enable government to have ownership over the results and encourage them to utilize this in their policy design.
Please upload any further supporting evidence / documents / data you have produced on your frontier challenge that showcase your learnings.
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4Quality education
8Decent work and economic growth
9Industry, innovation and infrastructure
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