The Commonwealth Higher Education Consortium for Youth Work (CHEC4YW) is led by the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth of Learning and the University of the West Indies. The Consortium was officially launched at the 9th Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting held in Kampala in 2017, by President Museveni.
The CHEC4YW aims to meet the demand for higher level qualifications and expanded career pathways in youth work. This project, unique in scale and scope, is directed towards the professional development of youth workers and the empowerment of Commonwealth youth to become confident, productive and responsible citizens. The Consortium supports the education and training of youth workers through a bachelor’s degree programme made available as an Open Educational Resource (OER) to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that agree to deliver the programme with minimal fees for the students.
More specifically, the Consortium supports participating HEIs to deliver cutting edge youth work programmes through:
- Needs analysis to create targeted training opportunities
- Online and/or face-to-face training and capacity building workshops
- Sharing of good practice across all partners and institutions
- Assistance with quality assurance and monitoring and evaluation
- Partnerships and a Community of Practice that bring together lecturers, practitioners and policy makers together.
