Core Areas of Expertise

Workforce development and entrepreneurship programs help build a more promising future by training youth and adults in the skills they need to find or create decent work. World Learning takes a comprehensive approach to this work, offering proven expertise in six core programmatic areas.

 

Career center development

Career centers help strengthen the links between educational institutions and community life and work. World Learning works in communities around the world—including projects in Algeria, Belarus, Egypt, El Salvador, Iraq, Kosovo, Lebanon, Malawi, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tunisia, and Ukraine—to assist educational institutions as they establish career centers, online career portals, and enterprise venture incubators to help their students connect with potential opportunities.

To date, our approach has benefited more than 30,000 young people in Latin America, North Africa, and Europe. World Learning’s career center projects include the El Salvador Higher Education for Economic Growth Project, Linking Education and Employment in Egypt, and Promoting Education, Altruism, and Civic Engagement in Algeria.

 

STEAM education and technical training

World Learning is a pioneer in innovative science, technology, engineering, arts & design, and mathematics (STEAM) programming, which transforms student learning and ultimately helps educational systems meet the demands of a 21st century workforce. Alongside our partners, we’ve introduced STEAM education to youth and adults around the world.

Our projects include the Egypt STEM Schools Project, which established 11 cutting-edge STEM schools around the country; Skills for Youth Pakistan, which develops IT, computer networking, and internet security skills of 2,600 youth near the Afghanistan border; and the Women in Science Girls STEAM Camp, which brought girls from the U.S. and six African countries together in Malawi to explore STEAM fields.

 

Industry and professional study tours

For more than 40 years, World Learning has been a leading designer and implementer of international industry and professional study tours and training programs. More than 200,000 participants have joined our transformative exchanges, workshops, and internships in a wide range of content areas from trade and economy to human rights, civil society, education, and more.

World Learning’s industry and professional study tours have included Training for Pakistan, which offers 6,000 participants professional and vocational training as well as small grants to support projects; Expand Your Horizons in Lebanon, which support 157 nonprofit organizations with self-assessments and training; and Ukraine’s Participant Training Program, which is training people from 10 public agencies and more than 250 civil society organizations.

 

Training in hard and soft skills

Finding and keeping a job requires a variety of skills. World Learning’s youth workforce and entrepreneurship programming helps our participants improve not only their technical and vocational abilities, but also strengthen the soft skills that will help them in the workplace—including communication, higher-order thinking, interpersonal skills, and more.

World Learning has trained 10,000 Algerian youth through the Promoting Education, Altruism, and Civic Engagement program, and will offer soft skills training to 7,000 young women in Pakistan through the Advancing Girls’ Education and Skills project. We also offer online training to 2,314 students through Global UGRAD.

 

Social entrepreneurship

Young people who see themselves as agents of change—even at a small scale—have a different vision of the purpose of their education and work. Our programs foster that sense of agency by encouraging young people to support their communities through project management training and volunteer opportunities. We then mentor participants as they undertake their own service and advocacy projects—which 85 percent of the 2016 cohort did upon their return home.

We work with people around the world. Leaders Advancing Democracy (LEAD) Mongolia supports 100 young leaders in Mongolia as they resolve pressing local issues; the Iraqi Young Leaders Exchange Program has trained more than 1,300 Iraqi youth to design service projects; and Jóvenes en Acción has helped 586 Mexican youth engage in their communities.

 

English for the workplace

English is increasingly vital to success in the 21st-century workplace. Through our sister organization School for International Training, we offer courses designed to help jobseekers, vocational professors, and teacher educators gain English language skills, while our TESOL teacher training—which includes customized courses, leadership building, and more—positions teachers around the world to motivate and empower their students in their language learning.

Our projects include the English Language Program in Myanmar, which reached 2,290 students with English language for employability; the Vocational institute English Language Curriculum Review in Tunisia, which strengthened the capacity of vocational institutes to provide students with English skills; a 130-hour SIT TESOL Certificate course that’s available at more than two dozen centers worldwide; and a whole host of online courses for English learners and teachers.