As part of Amazon Web Services (AWS)’s commitment to provide 29 million people with free training by 2025, we have launched three new training initiatives focusing on helping Ukrainians rejoin the workforce, reskilling IT workers for mid-level cloud careers, and creating learning opportunities for those with limited tech skills.

One of them, AWS’s IT Skills 4U, is a new, free workforce-development program to help Ukrainians pursue cloud computing careers.

The program is offered in Poland, which has the highest number of Ukrainian refugees, and is also available to all Ukrainians virtually.

Find out more here.

The pandemic brought social distancing requirements in the workplace and forced organization to rethink the way they attend and approach global events.

Dawood Hercules took part in the Davos Agenda, Global Technology Governance Summit and the Jobs Reset Summit in 2021 and created knowledge-sharing opportunities for hundreds of their employees around these events.

All the public sessions were live screened at the company's campus of the Karachi School of Business and Leadership, with a moderator, a note taker, a conversation starter and a room full of enthusiasts eager to learn. Questions were posed to the Forum's panelists in real time using the chat function and questions were answered by world leaders on the panel. After each session, attendees would have a roundtable discussion and virtual discussion channels were created on different topics where participants could share knowledge and ideas.

Some fantastic working groups on passion projects continue to emanate from these discussions. In an attempt to achieving zero-plastic waste by catalyzing a circular economy for plastics in Pakistan, a working group emerged post the discussions. Planet lovers created a human wave for the ‘Life is H2o’ project partnering with ‘The Change Leaders’, alumni of University of Oxford Said Business School to symbolize the idea of being more mindful about consuming water.

Dawood Hercules CEO Inam ur Rahman shared more details about the company’s experiences and learnings. Read more in his LinkedIn blog

The challenge:

Learning styles are changing. Social media redefines modes of engagement. Then, the pandemic upended, accelerated, and exposed underlying inequities. Workers without a college degree, women, ethnic minorities, and young people have been most affected by widening economic gaps. Digitization, which was already in play, is gaining a faster foothold. Meanwhile, companies across all industries are struggling to fill critical IT jobs in in-demand areas in networking, cybersecurity, and software development.

The initiative:

Cisco is addressing the challenge with the worldwide launch of Skills for All: a free, mobile-first program that delivers adaptive and gamified learning experiences, including self-paced courses, interactive tools, and career resources that are designed by industry experts.

"If an individual is connected to the Internet with a mobile phone, they are empowered as a learner at Skills for All."

Read more here.

Trane Technologies has commited $100 Million and 500,000 volunteer hours to building sustainable futures for under-represented populations.

As part of its 2030 Sustainability Commitments, Trane Technologies is committing $100 million and 500,000 volunteer hours by 2030 to "Sustainable Futures": A multiyear corporate citizenship strategy to expand underrepresented students’ access to Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education, support healthy classrooms, and promote skill building for green careers.

Millions of students around the world lack access to basic and STEM education to prepare them for well-paid employment. The problem is most dire among children from low-income and underdeveloped communities. Often these communities also lack healthy learning environments due to aging school buildings and high pollution levels.

“Our focus is to help young people gain exposure, support and resources to realize brighter futures,” said Marcia Avedon, Trane Technologies chief human resources, marketing and communications officer. “Sustainable Futures is core to our company’s Opportunity for All pillar in our 2030 Sustainability Commitments. This strategy will mobilize our company’s resources, unique expertise and the talents of our team members to build greater visibility and pathways to green and STEM careers, particularly for underrepresented groups.”

In collaboration with the Forum, Deloitte is seeking submissions via the UpLink platform to discover, invest, and scale up novel and inventive educational approaches that have proven successful over the last year.

Through the “WorldClass Education Challenge” Deloitte will invest up to US$1 million of its professionals’ time on a pro bono basis and will offer financial grants to support education innovators.

The world is at a critical junction to prepare the more than one billion school-aged children for the jobs of the future, which will require a lifelong commitment to learning.