The Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in collaboration with UNICEF Uganda and over 15 Universities in Uganda have today joined hands to accelerate 21st century skilling amongst young people in Uganda using a digital life coach – ‘FunDoo.’
Mondo Kyateka, Assistant Commissioner Youth and Children’s Affairs at the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development while speaking at the event held today in Kampala said, “77 percent of Uganda’s population are children and youth, below the age of 30 years, of which 64% are unemployed. FunDoo presents a platform through which young people can get equipped with 21st century and employability skills, while preparing them for their future.”
The most critical 21st century skills are 4 including: Communication, Collaboration, Critical thinking and Creative thinking. These skills are intended to help young people (in school & out-of school) to keep with the pace of today’s modern work spaces and industries.
Mondo further urged young people to consider technology to better their skills, by signing onto Chat bots such as FunDoo, which is readily available at no cost both via text and WhatsApp 24 hours 7 days a week, making learning timely whenever required.
Khushbakht Hojiev, Adolescent Development Manager UNICEF Uganda said, “At UNCEF Uganda, we believe in advancing greater skilling opportunities amongst young people by offering 21st century skills through tools such as ‘FunDoo’, a digital life coach. We recognize that a multi-sectoral approach that blends UNICEF Uganda with the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development, together with all the 15 partner Universities will deliver a progressive change in accelerating 21st century skilling amongst young people faster.”
Khushbakht said that the rapidly changing future ready skills and the new ways of learning done even outside schools is what makes ‘FunDoo’ relevant for young people.
FunDoo is unique for offering:
- Experiential learning. ‘FunDoo’ gives the learners content through experiential learning, where they choose the skills they want, and embark on an engaging and fun learning experience.
- Bite-sized modules. ‘FunDoo’ content is divided into learning modules or ‘tasks’ which take 30-45 minutes to complete and have a specific learning outcome. The platform also has an organized, modular library of tasks that learners can choose from and in the order they prefer.
- Self-paced. ‘FunDoo’ gives learners the flexibility to complete tasks at their own pace wherever they are.
Okot Francis, President Uganda National Students Association said, ‘The teaching we have been getting doesn’t give us all the skills we need. I appreciate the soft skills being captured in the new lower Secondary school curriculum. For us who are graduating now, we need to embrace FunDoo to support us adapt to the changing environment of work which is unpredictable and requires both class and soft skills.”
With FunDoo, young people can access a range of information, from 21st century skills like communication, problem solving; job readiness skills, employability skills and mental health to climate change, vaccine uptake, and much more, which prepare young people to seize opportunities and confront challenges in a rapidly changing world, enabling them to make informed decisions, become responsible citizens, and achieve their full potential.
All ‘’FunDoo’ content is free and young people can access it by simply Texting ‘FunDoo’ to SMS 8500 or WhatsApp 0709 168 500 or Facebook Messager U-Report Uganda or download the U-Report App and tap into a world of greater skilling possibilities, using a digital life coach.
Khushbakht further said, “Due to its chat-based medium, ‘FunDoo’ provides access to learning with low internet connectivity, making it accessible to all young people, including those who in hard-to-reach areas. For learners in areas that don’t have internet access, we encourage them to use the SMS based version of ‘FunDoo’ which equally offers free skills for young people.”
Once a task is completed on FunDoo, young people can get automated certificates and giveaways in the form of skills badges, certificates and learner boards where they can track their ‘FunDoo’ learning journeys. Workshops and webinars are organized to incentivize highly engaged users.
To ensure data protection from young people, ‘FunDoo’ gathers very limited personal information and keeps the data private and secure.
