Youth Tech: the digital solution that promotes youth development in Honduras

Montevideo, January 15, 2024. 

Sofis Solutions has promoted several projects to foster the development of new generations, such as Jóvenes Tech, a project designed for Honduran youth.

International institutions such as the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have expressed concern about the risk and vulnerability faced by young people in countries like Honduras, where, in 2020, 40% of individuals aged 0 to 19 were living in extreme poverty, experiencing violence, school dropout, unemployment, and precarious work environments, according to the National Statistics Institute of that country.

Youth make up a large portion of the population, specifically 44% of the total, and in this context, to promote the development of these young people, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) sponsored the program “Mi futuro en tus manos, Jóvenes Tech,” which aims to support the educational, social, and labor development of individuals aged 14 to 19.

The Jóvenes Tech Program foresees the use of technology to provide young people with educational, entertainment, and workforce preparation opportunities through a digital solution where they can use a point exchange system to access various proposals. Youth must meet guidelines in education, health, and safety to remain in the program, and their progress is continuously monitored.

Additionally, the program ensures that participating youth are accompanied by tutors or mentors.

Furthermore, Jóvenes Tech allows sponsors to finance the participation of young people not initially selected by the program so they can join, representing an innovative form of remittance from abroad.

Digital Solution

The digital solution behind this project is a platform where program beneficiaries can use points earned monthly to exchange for products and services offered by public and private institutions.

Sofis Solutions worked on the development of this digital solution, which aims to provide a comprehensive approach to the main challenges faced by these youth through technology. The Honduran government institution Red Solidaria is the beneficiary of this project.

The points or “resources” available to the youth can be used for exchanges or saved.

According to the program, 50% of the points must be used for formal education and vocational training, including courses on sexual and reproductive health, soft skills, languages, financial management, entrepreneurship, technology, mechanics, cosmetology, or barbering. Another 40% of points are allocated to social inclusion activities such as entertainment or sports, and 10% must be used for mandatory savings.

To receive points, youth must fulfill responsibilities associated with the Jóvenes Tech program, such as participating in community activities. Once enrolled, they gain free access to the digital platform where they have a personal account and can monitor point usage and balance.

Mentorship, Monitoring, and Decision-Making

Each program beneficiary is assigned a mentor who provides guidance, motivation, and emotional support. Mentors help in identifying educational opportunities, setting goals, finding resources, and making professional connections to support youth workforce integration.

Mentors can also track participants’ progress on the platform, which includes a module for monitoring and evaluating performance.

Monitoring can be carried out in various ways:

• Mentors can access detailed reports on each youth’s use of available opportunities and program participation status.

• Youth can view their program trajectory, point transaction history, and certificates earned through participation in different initiatives.

• Providers of educational, cultural, and sports offerings can monitor how much their products and services are utilized.

Program administrators can generate reports on the youth participants’ reality, segmented by gender, age, city, services used, and attendance at entrepreneurial projects. Evaluating participant performance helps inform decisions and guide the development of new public policies.

Improving Quality of Life

The Jóvenes Tech Program will initially be implemented in urban areas with the highest population in Honduras, where, according to the country’s Violence Observatory, cases of violence and crime are concentrated, and where there are large numbers of youth neither studying nor working—over 110,000 in some of the identified most violent cities.

This aims to generate a social impact.

Santiago Atella, director of Sofis Solutions, highlighted the project’s high value, as it provides tools for youth to improve their reality, noting: “This is the type of project that is a pleasure to work on, allowing us to contribute our expertise to achieve the best possible technical solution.”