September–October Regional Round-Up: Highlights from Our Six Regions
October 13, 2022
There’s always so much happening in the six JA regions that it can be hard to keep up! That’s why we’ve compiled some of our favorite stories from each regional operating center from September and October.
JA Europe
In September, at Startup OLE in Salamanca, JA Europe CEO Salvatore Nigro and JA Bulgaria CEO Milena Stoycheva handed over the European Youth & Innovation Manifesto to Mariya Gabriel, the European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. The Youth & Innovation Manifesto delivers on 20 goals by 2030 to ensure that European youth will have the skillset and mindset to build a thriving Europe. Read the full text.
In addition, FT Adviser recently published an op-ed by Salvatore about financial health. “Although incorporated into some secondary school curriculums," Salvatore wrote, "the current state of financial literacy is not where it should be.” Read more.
INJAZ Al-Arab JA MENA
Mark your calendar for INJAZ Al-Arab’s annual Youth Entrepreneurship Celebration (YEC), taking place October 31–November 4. Held in Dubai, UAE for the first time in 16 years, young entrepreneurs in the Middle East and North Africa will share knowledge, experience a true entrepreneurial journey, and compete at the regional level. During the 2021–2022 academic year, 11,000 students participated in the JA Company Program through INJAZ Al-Arab, resulting in 700 student companies from 13 countries. Although the event will take place in person, the award ceremony will be available via livestream for those who can't attend in person. INJAZ Al-Arab's social media will also share moments from the event.
Junior Achievement USA
The UPS Store has selected Junior Achievement in the United States as its charity partner for their new Start Small, Grow Big national giving campaign. Beginning in August, The UPS Store activated a pin pad prompt in its 5,000+ stores across the U.S., inviting customers to support Junior Achievement with a $1, $2, or $5 donation. In early 2023, UPS will work with Junior Achievement USA to distribute the funds to each of the JA local areas where the local donations were made. Funds will be used to support local JA entrepreneurship learning experiences. The UPS Store is confident that JA's mission will resonate with its core customer base of small business owners.
JA Africa
Global Citizen, an international advocacy organization, dedicated to achieving the end of extreme poverty, has selected JA Africa as one of the causes it will support at the Global Citizen Festival: Accra. The event will take place at the iconic Black Star Square in Ghana’s capital on September 24, 2022, hosted by Danai Gurira and featuring live performances by Usher, SZA, Stormzy, Gyakie, Sarkodie, Stonebwoy, TEMS, and more. Read more.
JA Americas
The Americas region shares a number of new initiatives and partnerships this month! First, the second edition of the regional research “Lack of Opportunities for Young People,” jointly developed by JA Americas and ManpowerGroup, found that a high percentage of young people in Latin America experience difficulties during job searches. After consulting with 2,000+ youth and more than 200 companies, the research revealed urgent actions that the private, public, and social sectors can take to help. Read the findings (in Spanish).
The region also implemented Crece con Google para Jóvenes (Grow with Google for Youth) in Argentina, Mexico, Peru, Chile, and Colombia. Grow with Google is a free course that trains vulnerable young people (18 to 30) with challenges in job placement. Students learned the latest trends in digital marketing, guided by experts from Google, developed additional skills, and had access to mockup interviews with marketing agencies and career panels. Watch the ceremony (in Spanish).
JA Americas renewed its regional partnership with Alexa Translations, enabling the region to localize its communication strategy and increase regional outreach by giving JA members access to disruptive translation technology, powered by Alexa. “Counting on partners like Alexa Translations is critical if we want to move from incremental growth to exponential growth, said Leo Martellotto, President of JA Americas. "We need the best technology to improve processes and to become a fresh organization that is adaptive, and that can react quickly."
Finally, Bernardo Brugnoli has been appointed Executive Director of JA Argentina, filling the vacancy left by Noël Zemborain, who now serves as Operations Director at JA Americas. Bernardo has experience in the public and social sectors, and will continue to advance the work of JA Argentina.
JA Asia Pacific
JA SparktheDream—a holistic financial literacy program that empowers young people to apply financial concepts to live their dreams while being socially minded—is set to culminate its first year with an inaugural regional competition. The event, scheduled for late next month, will see student teams pitch their ideas for how to apply financial literacy concepts to address real social needs within their communities. The event and program stem from a new partnership with FWD insurance company. The program was piloted by JA Hong Kong SAR–China and JA Singapore in 2022, with an additional five more markets set to join in 2023 and 2024.
With the understanding that the younger students are when financial health concepts are taught—and the more these concepts are modeled at home—the more effective they will be, JA SparktheDream targets Primary 5 and 6 students and involves parents as key stakeholders in the learning process. Find out more about JA SparktheDream.