Today, Let’s Go Urban, a non-profit organization that wants to get the best out of Antwerp’s youth, is launching a new digital campaign to help young people from the city with their personal development, choice of study and career. To this end, the Belgian smartphone app start-up MobieTrain is offering the LGU Academy 1,000 free licences for personalized micro-learning programmes.
“The past ten years have taught us that young people are in great need of support,” says Sihame El Kaouakibi, who launched the initiative. “Forty per cent of the young people we reach with Let’s Go Urban are disadvantaged. Here with us they find role models, inspiration and ‘good vibes’. But we are also being asked more often about well-being, support with studies, work and entrepreneurship. With this new digital project, we are letting young people know that we are also there for them during the corona crisis: today, tomorrow, always. At the same time, thanks to MobieTrain they can continue to work on their personal development, qualities and talents.”
“We want to appeal to young people for their strength, courage and responsibility. This way we get them to grab life with both hands. They are not alone,” adds LGU coordinator Valentina Nigro. “We do this with the right tone of voice and each time a call to action that fits in perfectly with their everyday environment. The learning paths are built according to the methodology of our LGU Academy and we will continually adjust them.”
Bite-sized learning paths of ten minutes
The MobieTrain app allows young people to go through short learning paths of up to ten minutes at their own pace. “It’s a fun way of learning and discovering yourself. If our app can steer young people in the right direction in this way, then we at MobieTrain are happy to work on this. And if Let’s Go Urban expands the initiative, we will increase the number of licences with great conviction,” says MobieTrain CEO Guy Van Neck, who has made their application available free of charge due to the corona crisis until the end of May.
Let’s Go Urban set up the learning paths in MobieTrain in four categories. These help young people between the ages of 14 and 20 respectively to discover their talents (‘empowerment’), to decide on a study choice that suits them (‘education’) and to prepare them for the job market for their first job or starting their own company (‘employment’ and ‘entrepreneurship’, from the age of 17).
‘Empowerment’ as the first hurdle
LGU Academy takes the empowerment track as the first hurdle. It will teach young people the difference between talents and qualities, among other things, and how you can use and develop both. This should give young people in disadvantaged neighbourhoods a new outlook. In Kiel, the ‘home’ of Let’s Go Urban, the unemployment rate is 13 per cent and just over 60 per cent are low-skilled. “So it is essential to invest in these forgotten neighbourhoods with forgotten young people. We believe in them and won’t give up on them,” says Sihame El Kaouakibi.
The campaign is supported by posters and with the hashtags #pitchyourself, #treatyourself, #educateyourself and #employyourself on social media. Young people who want to use the LGU Empowerment track in MobieTrain can sign up at https://www.urbancenterantwerp.com/. The other three tracks will be activated in the course of 2020.
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About LGU Academy
LGU Academy, founded by Sihame El Kaouakibi in 2009, brings together young people between the ages of 6 and 30 through a positive connection – PASSION: passion for dance, sports, music, entrepreneurship and so on. LGU is a community, a family where you can discover yourself, your talents, new friends, people who believe in you and your future potential. LGU organizes different weekly workshops in the Urban Center in Kiel, Antwerp.