Meet 3 social innovators using tech to empower and educate the next generation

Since 1999, International Youth Day has been observed on 12 August every year. The day aims to raise awareness about the challenges and problems facing the world's youth. This year's theme, "From Clicks to Progress: Youth Digital Pathways for Sustainable Development," emphasizes the crucial role of digitalization in advancing the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the valuable contributions of young people.

While the young generation possesses the passion and knowledge to drive positive change, they often lack access to the critical support and mentorship needed to turn their ideas into reality. Increasingly, the private sector is recognizing this need and stepping up to play a significant role in expanding opportunities and accelerating progress for the next generation.

In January 2024, the Global Shapers Community launched the Innovation Prize to provide young people access to specialized training, mentorship and financial support to improve their communities. In July 2024, 15 projects led by Global Shapers across the world were selected as winners and will now be able to scale their solutions.

The State of Social Enterprise: A Review of Global Data 2013–2023, a Schwab Foundation's Global Alliance for Social Entrepreneurship report, revealed that social enterprises generate around $2 trillion in revenue annually and employ nearly 200 million people. The same report also found that, compared to conventional businesses, social enterprises are more likely to be led by young people and women. As the 2030 deadline for the SDGs approaches, the role of young people in digital innovation is essential for addressing global issues. We want to recognize the contributions of young people as innovators, activists, entrepreneurs and organizers who are igniting social movements and initiatives to address the issues affecting their lives and communities.

Here are three organizations in the social innovation space that are working to empower the next generation through technology:

As an international citizen sector organization, Youth for Technology Foundation works in developing countries and resource-constrained communities, inspiring youth and women to create innovative solutions to address gaps in existing silos in the community and educational systems. Since 2001, Youth for Technology Foundation’s flagship programme, the YTF Academy has partnered with disadvantaged youth and women in developing nations to improve their lives and expand their economic opportunities through employment and entrepreneurship. YTF helps uplift women and young people out of poverty by accessing market demands, designing developmental programmes, providing linkages that accelerate business opportunities and administering customized training programmes.

Since the launch of YTF Academy, 40% of graduates have gone on to be employed by small businesses, where they earn three times the average salary of a non-YTF Academy graduate. Another 38%, meanwhile, have started their own businesses, and YTF's work has inspired the creation and sustenance of over 2,100 small and medium enterprises led by youth and women in Nigeria.

Njideka U. Harry, the social innovator who founded YTF, has long been outspoken about the need to ensure the technology sector continues to advance the social good — and she has warned that, too often, the non-profit sector falls behind on the tech adoption curve.

Thaki is a social impact non-profit organization that delivers learning tools to schools catering to refugee and vulnerable children in the Middle East. They collaborate with companies that donate second-hand electronic devices, mostly laptops. After the devices have been refurbished, they load them with fun, interactive offline learning content (either proprietary or open source) and distribute them to their education partners in the Middle East. Instead of ending up at the landfill, the devices are given a second life of high impact, giving children in vulnerable circumstances an education they may otherwise have missed out on.

The organization was founded in 2015 by Rudayna Abdo and aims to eliminate inequity inflicted by poverty, war and disasters. Her goal, she says, is to foster a world where everyone sustainably shares resources and helps one another with compassion and benevolence. The electronic tools and programmes Thaki offers are the key to accessing 21st-century skills. Since its founding, the organization has launched over 1330 programmes from 52 education providers, distributed hardware and content with an in-kind value of $14 million and enabled over 30,000 students to access learning resources.

Whiz Kids, founded in Ethiopia in 2007 by Innovation Awardee Bruktawit Tigabu Tadesse, uses mass media such as television, radio and print to provide educational content in seven local languages, focusing on early childhood education, healthy behavior, literacy and gender equality. Their flagship programme, Tsehai Loves Learning, reaches millions of viewers weekly, educating children aged three to eight about health, ethics and literacy. Another programme, Tibeb Girls, addresses gender-based violence and discrimination to empower teenage girls. Whiz Kids also collaborates with schools and produces educational materials for teachers, with support from the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education.

The impact of Whiz Kids' educational materials is carefully monitored, and a study found that the Tsehai Loves Learning programme doubled children's health knowledge compared to a control group. As a result, the programme was integrated into 400 schools, reaching over 150,000 children, and a software application was developed to monitor the integration in partnership with the local government. Since its foundation, Whiz Kids has distributed more than 250,000 books and reached over 10 million people.