Building tomorrow today: How youth-led solutions are shaping the future of early childhood education

UNICEF and Generation Unlimited are dedicated to empowering young entrepreneurs with comprehensive skills and scaling the establishment of high-quality early learning centres. Initiatives such as the UNICEF’s Venture Fund and Innovation Challenge, and Generation Unlimited’s imaGen Ventures Youth Challenge have been effective in building young people’s life skills as well as a blend of entrepreneurial, management and financial skills required to establish and run a successful enterprise. When these skills are combined with further training on play-based learning and parental engagement strategies, young entrepreneurs can ensure their early childhood education services follow age-appropriate learning strategies and effectively engage parents in the learning process, thereby bolstering enrollment and caregiver involvement in school activities, events, and projects.