FunDoo on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger to learn 21st-century skills

UNICEF India in collaboration with Udhyam Learning Foundation and YuWaah has launched a fun and engaging way for young people to learn 21st century skills.

People between 14 and 24 years who do not have access to holistic, quality learning and skilling opportunities can equip themselves with relevant skills for life and livelihood at their own pace with chat-based platform FunDoo.

The programme is free of cost and can be accessed with the help of a smartphone. The 21st-century skills include self-awareness, collaboration, communication, critical thinking and problem solving which are best learnt by doing real-world activities.

The chat-bot is a friendly compon that encourages learners to complete real-world tasks in their immediate environments -- all the while ensuring that the learning journey is fun and rewarding.

"The FunDoo platform marks a critical step in UNICEF and YuWaah's efforts in collaboration with Udhyam Foundation to reach and work with young people at scale," said Dhuwarakha Sriram, Chief of Generation Unlimited at Youth Development and Partnerships.

"It is going to be critical to ensure a focus on the most marginalised that may not have top-end smartphones or access to unlimited data, in our efforts to facilitate young people's access to skilling opportunities -- and through FunDoo we aim to ensure that no child or young person is left behind."

Mekin Maheshwari, Founder of Udhyam Learning Foundation, said the availability of FunDoo on WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger makes it accessible to almost everyone with a smartphone in India.

In less than four months, FunDoo has on-boarded more than 21,000 young learners and aims to reach out to 20 lakh users in the next year. 88 per cent of users are between 10 to 25 years from the top four states namely Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Delhi.

"21st-century skills will reach more than 30 crore young people in a super-interactive and fun way. FunDoo builds on half a decade of UNICEF's work and the passions of founders of Udhyam team to help young people achieve their potential," said Abhishek Gupta, Chief Operating Officer of YuWaah.

YuWaah is a multi-stakeholder platform that aims to prepare young people to transition from education and learning to productive work and active citizenship.

It was formed by UNICEF together with public and private sector partners, UN agencies, civil society orgsations, foundations and young people as the Generation Unlimited (GenU) partnership in India.

( With inputs from ANI )