#Youthefuture has launched: its goal is to promote digital skills and youth participation
#Youthefuture is the first initiative launched by the CDP Foundation; created last year, it was outlined in the Business Plan by Italy and for Italy in order to combat educational poverty and early school leaving and will involve over 3,200 students across 83 primary and secondary schools in 12 Italian cities.
The goal of the initiative is to strengthen the digital skills of children and adolescents in our country, encouraging them to take an active role in their own lives and to participate fully in society.
This is the first step in an ambitious programme that is being rolled out by the Foundation, designed to combat early school leaving and educational poverty. The pandemic we are currently experiencing has further highlighted the profound educational inequalities that still affect too many young people in Italy, particularly in the most disadvantaged suburbs of our cities.
In our country, one in three adolescents does not have digital skills; one in eight children does not have a PC or tablet at home; two in five have experienced repercussions in their relationships with their peers. In recent months, this situation has had a serious impact on the ability of these children to attend classes from home: during the lockdown, more than one in ten children failed to study remotely, with one in five only able to do so occasionally.
The project was launched on the eve of World Radio Day, which is celebrated on 13 February, precisely because it will use this communication tool to involve young people in acts of digital civic participation, thus helping them to champion their own rights whilst improving access to and conscious use of new technologies.
Not only that, but the plan provides also for a series of corporate volunteering initiatives, in order to directly involve the employees of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in tutoring activities for students and training workshops on sustainability, innovation and digital themes.
For the CDP Foundation, investing in tomorrow means supporting and promoting the country's most precious resource: Its human capital.