On 2 September 2014, Ms Katerina Ananiadou, Programme Specialist at UNESCO-UNEVOC, participated in a conference of the Global Network on Education & Youth. Organized by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and entitled “Youth – Lost in Transition?” the conference aimed at identifying the challenges of young people to transit to adulthood and what organizations can do to contribute to easing this transition. The conference aimed at providing a platform for cooperation and exchange between policy experts, scholars and practitioners, and covered topics including youth policy, formal and non-formal education, employability, violence prevention, political and civic participation.

Ms Katerina Ananiadou gave a keynote speech on the topic of youth employability, focusing on the issue of learning and skills. Specifically, she argued that the current youth unemployment crisis is partly due to the insufficient skills base among young people. Policies that could address this issue should focus on better school-to-work transitions, flexible learning pathways and better engagement and coordination of all stakeholders, including the young people themselves are important. She also highlighted the role of UNESCO and UNESCO-UNEVOC and the UNEVOC Network in helping to strengthen capacity and share and disseminate expertise in TVET and skills development.