Fit for the future
Young people are stepping up every day to take us into the years to come — they are our future.
Fit4Future is here to set those young voices up for success, to allow them to represent themselves and create the changes in the world around them they want to see, especially in low and middle income countries.
By investing in the technology and skills they 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.
Navigate the map to explore the projects we are supporting as part of the Fit4Future initiative. These have been divided into three categories.
- Building skills fit for the future
- Technological solutions to health challenges
- Young action for thriving cities
The challenge
We are living in an age of rapid and unprecedented change. A new wave of cutting-edge innovation and groundbreaking advancements in digital technology is transforming our cities and our lives. Together, we’re seeing changes from our social norms, to our economies. From our health and wellbeing to our political institutions. A new era, driven by technology.
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 is not always serving 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. 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 shared.
Young people must not be left behind —it’s as simple as that. By investing in new, impactful urban-development, technology and data-driven programs, we have a chance to make a change for young people in cities— one that lasts. With better tools, we can tackle persistent health, social, and economic challenges in completely new ways.
Our contribution
At Fondation Botnar, we want to 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. Young people are stepping up every day to take us into the years to come. They are more than the leaders of tomorrow – they’re the voices of today. They need to be central actors in how we shape the future.
Fit4Future is about setting those young voices up for success. Through Fit4Future, we want them to represent themselves and create the changes in the world around them they want to see, especially in low and middle income countries. That’s why we put the call out 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.
With smarter, data-driven solutions, we can address the imbalances and inequalities that lead to long-lasting health and lifestyle challenges for young people all around the world. It 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. We’re here to invest in applying meaningful technological solutions to existing problems in our societies. Only then can we move forward – together.
Resources:
- Watch our latest Impact Generation video with Nikita from Safetipin:
- Read the Fit4Future: Strengthening local youth voices blog from Siddhartha Jha here
- Watch a video from one of the Fit for Future partners, Open Skies Fellows:
- Watch the Fit4Future announcement video: