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Fit4Future
Strengthening local youth voices
In a time driven by unprecedented change, young people are stepping up to shape their future, and ours. They are more than the leaders of tomorrow – they’re the voices of today.
Fit4Future is here to support these young voices to succeed, to allow them to represent themselves and create the change the world needs. By investing in the technology and skills young people need, and involving them in every stage of city development, we’re helping to prepare the next generation to lead us to a brighter tomorrow.
Challenge
An era of cutting-edge innovation and groundbreaking advancements in digital technology is transforming our cities and our lives. We’re seeing change everywhere, from our social norms, to our economies, to our political institutions. For many of us today, it would be unthinkable to live in a world without access to the internet or the mobile device in our pocket. It goes beyond convenience – more and more key services are built upon this new digital infrastructure that we now take for granted.
But despite its transformative power, that technology does not always serve the needs of everyone. There’s a huge digital divide in our cities, excluding groups across demographics, countries and regions, and having a real impact on their opportunities, health and wellbeing – especially for children and young people. And that gap is getting wider. As much as technological advances can drive us forwards, so too can they take us back a step as a society – especially if the benefits are not equitable and shared. Young people must not be left behind.
- Colombia
- Ghana
- India
- Indonesia
- Senegal
- Tanzania
- Vietnam
Solution
By investing in new, impactful urban-development, technology and data-driven programs, we have a chance to make lasting change for young people in cities. With better tools, we can tackle persistent health, social, and economic challenges in completely new ways.
At Fondation Botnar, we recognise, understand, and leverage the critical role of technology in children and young people’s lives when designing interventions that engage with them for their wellbeing. This means learning quicker, identifying problems faster and pinpointing the interventions and programmes that really work to transform the lives of countless young people in meaningful ways.
Through Fit4Future, we want young people to have the ability to represent themselves and create the changes in the world around them they want to see, especially in low and middle income countries. The initiative calls for innovative solutions that use the power of technology to really involve young people in urban development, empowering them with future-ready skills and developing new, technological solutions to health and wellbeing challenges.
Resources
Fit4Future - Project announcement
Video