Every generation faces its own challenges.
For today’s young people, these challenges are evolving faster than ever before. Digital transformation, artificial intelligence, climate change, and demographic shifts are reshaping the way we learn, work, and live.
In this rapidly changing world, knowledge alone is no longer enough. Young people need skills that enable them to adapt, innovate and lead.
This is precisely what World Youth Skills Day, observed each year on 15 July, reminds us of.
The need could hardly be more urgent. According to the International Labour Organization, almost 65 million young people worldwide are unemployed, while millions more work in insecure or informal jobs with limited opportunities for development.
At the same time, the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 estimates that 39% of workers’ core skills will change by 2030, making lifelong learning an essential requirement rather than an option.
Education remains the foundation, but skills determine how knowledge is applied.
Critical thinking, communication, teamwork, resilience, creativity, and digital competence have become just as important as technical expertise. They enable young people not only to find employment but to shape the future.
Sport offers valuable lessons in this context. Every athlete understands that talent alone is never enough. Success is built through discipline, perseverance, teamwork, responsibility, and the willingness to improve every single day.
These are not only sporting values - they are life skills. They prepare young people to navigate uncertainty, overcome setbacks and embrace new opportunities with confidence.
,,Throughout my life, I have witnessed how sport can transform young people. It teaches responsibility, strengthens character and creates self-belief. This is why investing in youth skills means investing in our collective future,” says Ann Kathrin Linsenhoff.
Governments, schools, businesses, sports organizations and civil society all share a responsibility to create opportunities for young people to learn, develop and realise their potential.
The greatest investment we can make is not only in infrastructure or technology, but in people.
Because every young person who gains the confidence, education, and skills to contribute becomes part of the solution to the challenges our societies face.
On this World Youth Skills Day, we are reminded that the future is not something we simply wait for.
It is something we prepare for - by empowering the next generation with the knowledge, skills and values they need to build it.
Yours
sincerely
