I've been thinking of Youth in the context of Technology & Development. Have had thoughts on the devastating effect the Digital Divide can have on our youth in the long term, especially in a country like India that has so many many divides already. Children living on the 'wrong side' are prevented from gaining quality jobs in the future, and are closed off from many educational opportunities. An entire generation of young people is disadvantaged because so many of them are not given the technology skills, experiences and resources needed to succeed today.

Digital Partners, "a Seattle-based nonprofit institute, taps the power of the digital economy to develop market-based solutions that benefit the world's poor. With support from the Kellogg Foundation, Open Society Institute, and individual contributors, Digital Partners is working to cultivate a world in which all men, women, and youths are able to reap the benefits of the Digital Revolution to improve the quality of their lives".

They're doing a lot of really interesting work with Youth - Global Classmates Initiative and Digital Partners Youth - "a joint effort of Digital Partners and the Youth Employment Summit to serve young people all over the world--especially in poor communities--to effectively use information and communication technology for entrepreneurship and education. This initiative is an effort to mobilize young entrepreneurs from all over the world with the goal of assisting 500 million young adults, especially those facing poverty, to develop productive and sustainable livelihoods by 2012."

I've been discussing a few project concepts involving youth with the folk at Digital Partners - very initial stages yet - and am quite excited about it ! Will be meeting them later this month at the 3rd Annual Baramati Initiative on ICT and Development conference they've organised in India.

Here are some other links and projects i found interesting to read :

1. Technology and Child Development - a course blog - i particularly found some of the links on this blog very useful (Thanks Sebastian for the link .. and Lilia for drawing my attention to it)

2. Children,Youth and the Internet - "How do young people experience information and communication technologies such as the Internet?".  They have an interesting section - youth stories and some useful research & educational links.

3. Youth Work Links Ideas - a neat space for youth by youth

4. YCDO.net - i quote from their 'about us' page ... "YCDO.net has been created by the Youth Creating Digital Opportunities (YCDO) Coalition. Formally established in February 2003, membership in the YCDO Coalition is voluntary and free for all organizations which have committed to achieving its vision and mission and agreed to its principles of collaboration. Vision - Realizing the potential of young people as leaders in using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to achieve more sustainable development in their communities and around the world."

They seem to have got some good projects going in India too.

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