Annual Report
This past year was like no other, and Generation’s team, learners, employers, and partners have been remarkable in their commitment to making opportunity equitable in the face of incredible challenges.
Download the full report
A message from our CEO
Our impact to date:
16countries
46,000graduates (as of 9/2021)
When we released our annual report last year, we were still in the early days of processing the human tragedy of the COVID-19 pandemic, the depth of the economic fallout, and the important spotlight shone on inequities by the social justice movement. One year later, we live in a changed world. The challenges have further crystallized, and we are figuring out together how to move forward.
The labor market has undergone seismic shifts. Entire sectors have been upended, and while we don’t know what they will look like in the future, we know it will be different. Automation and digitization massively accelerated, moving forward job loss and job creation trends that weren’t expected for years. And companies are actively figuring out what hybrid working looks like.
Women, people of color, low-income families, and the youngest and oldest workers have been disproportionately hurt by these changes, moving us further away from equity at the exact same time we are calling for it louder than ever.
At Generation, we continue to believe that, together, we can create an inclusive COVID-19 jobs recovery. We believe that, working hand-in-hand with governments, we can reimagine and rebuild the systems and infrastructure that support employment. We believe that people of all ages everywhere can and should have meaningful careers, and that they and their families should enjoy the sustained well-being that comes with stable employment.
None of this happens without many, many people investing in this work. We are grateful for the support of our global and local funding, implementation, and employer partners. We are thankful to have the opportunity to partner with and learn from so many others who are dedicated to common goals. And we are so appreciative of our incredible colleagues across the Generation network who continue to navigate through these changes with grace and purpose.
Our collective recovery, while not easy, must have staying power. That durability will only come from providing opportunity for our graduates and everyone who faces systemic barriers to employment. We hope you will join us.
Mona Mourshed, CEO
The Impact of the Pandemic on Our Work
In addition to the personal impact on our hundreds of team members and thousands of alumni globally, the pandemic brought about a few key shifts in our work:
- 1
PROGRAMS:
We now develop our programs to be fully online if needed. We also further expanded programs available to midcareer workers — our ReGeneration learners. - 2
HEALTHCARE UPSKILLING:
In 2020, in partnership with medical experts, academic institutions, governments, professional accreditation agencies, and others, we created online upskilling modules to support healthcare workers in caring for COVID-19 patients, reaching 300,000+ people through these programs to date. - 3
PARTNERSHIPS:
We were fortunate that many of our financial supporters shifted their funding to unrestricted, providing much needed flexibility. In addition, we secured support from new partners who share our commitment to an equitable and inclusive COVID-19 jobs recovery and beyond.
Looking ahead
Six years ago, we started by refining our approach in a select set of locations, followed by a period of building out our global footprint and infrastructure. Today, in addition to delivering consistently high-impact programs, we pursue partnerships, research, and advocacy that will help transform the education-to-employment system to be more equitable and inclusive.
Meeting the World’s Midcareer Moment
In July 2021 we released an original research report, Meeting the World’s Midcareer Moment, that spotlighted the challenges faced by age 45+ job seekers and workers across seven countries — Brazil, France, Italy, Singapore, Spain, the UK, and the USA — and the opportunity we have as a society to ensure they are part of the pandemic recovery.
Pursuing Global Jobs Recovery
In February 2021, we announced a new coalition of partners — BlackRock, McKinsey & Company, Microsoft, Verizon — providing us with $70 million in funding and $57 million in in-kind support to support global jobs recovery. This group, alongside our other funders, supports our programs around the world. We are developing a host of tools to support our work at scale — including a portal for employers that matches candidates with their needs based on skills, and a set of advanced data tools to inform continuous program improvement.
Ensuring Access and Opportunity
As we have moved classes online, one of the questions we’ve needed to answer is “how do we ensure access for everyone?” — particularly challenging in countries where learners have limited technology access and the supporting infrastructure is less mature. We are working closely with local teams to figure this out, and seeing early success. For example, we graduated our first fully online course in Kenya with great results.Meet our graduates
Video: Generation Stories from Kenya, Spain, and USA
Around the world, our students have overcome enormous obstacles to find their career path through Generation.
Video: Generation Stories from India, Mexico, and Hong Kong
Through their Generation experience, our graduates have transformed what’s possible for their families, their workplace, and their own lives.