Nokia firmly believes in supporting youth development programs. For several years, Nokia has cooperated with the International Youth Foundation (IYF), and we recently signed an agreement to join forces with the international children's organization, Plan, to work with youth in Africa.

Targeting life skills

As a global company, we recognize that young people everywhere can benefit from developing essential "life skills" that help them to succeed within today’s fast-changing world. Such skills – including confidence, teamwork, and conflict management – are often not taught in schools. To meet this challenge, we support life skills education programs that address the specific needs of young people within individual countries.

In 2000, Nokia and the International Youth Foundation (IYF) launched a global youth development initiative to strengthen the life skills of young people and prepare them for the future. To date, Nokia has invested US $26,000,000 in 24 countries and directly benefited more than 330,000 young people.

Country programs, implemented by local non-governmental organizations, provide a means of achieving important youth development outcomes, such as improved performance in school, increased literacy, finding and maintaining employment, and active citizenship.

Examples include:

Conéctate – provides Colombian youth with training in information technology and at the same time develops their self-esteem, creative and critical thinking, and communication skills.

Kapcsolodj be – supports the efforts of young community volunteers in Hungary, while equipping them with project management and budget planning skills.

Leadership for health – develops leadership and life skills among Nigerian youth, who are trained to run HIV/AIDS-focused initiatives.

Mudando a Historía - trains Brazilian youth to serve as reading mentors to disadvantaged children.

Read more about how individual programs have impacted young lives:

YouthActionNet: Awards for young change makers

YouthActionNet is a program that invests in the power and promise of young people to create positive change. Through a dynamic website (www.youthactionnet.org), awards, advocacy, and networking opportunities, YouthActionNet offers young change-makers ideas, resources, and connections to like minds around the world. The YouthActionNet community currently consists of more than 10,000 young people who visit the website to share ideas, obtain practical information, create their own web pages, and exchange information.

Given out annually, YouthActionNet awards recognize accomplished young community leaders. In addition to receiving a US $500 grant, winners participate in a week-long skill-building workshop. Currently, 100 youth from more than 40 countries have been selected as YouthActionNet Ambassadors. They include:

Jessica Lax and Jocelyn Land-Murphy, who, as 22-year-old college students, founded The Otesha Project, which has educated more than 30,000 Canadian high school students about simple actions they can take to protect the planet's resources and ensure a more equitable, long-term future for its inhabitants.

Gautam Gupta, age 23, who founded Activists in Action for Women, AIDS & Justice in India, to advocate on behalf of victims of domestic violence and rape.

Learn about Benita Singh's efforts to promote fair trade through Mercado Global

• Read more

Read how John Piermont Montilla is addressing the needs of street and working children in the Philippines

• Read more

• Read more on www.YouthActionNet.org

Cooperation with Plan

Nokia and the international children's organization, Plan, have joined forces to use modern communication technologies to raise African children's awareness of their rights and opportunities. Nokia has provided an initial donation of €1,000,000 for 2006.

The first stage of the effort will see Nokia focus on supporting Plan's existing media and communications technology projects for Africa's children and youth. Plan is a humanitarian, child-centered organization working in 46 developing countries with families and their communities. Plan currently has 64 child media projects running in 31 different countries.