Digital Literacy for Marginalised Youth in Sabah

Programme Description

The primary goal of this programme was to support the marginalised youth in pursuing better work and career opportunities alongside the ability to put food on the table without a passport or identity card. Together with the United Nations Children’s Fund Malaysia (UNICEF Malaysia), Me.reka conducted a Digital Literacy pilot programme for UNICEF to address the lack of access to education for children classified as “stateless and/or out-of-school” in Sabah. The Digital Literacy pilot programme conducted by Me.reka reached 35 at-risk youths from Madrasah Al-Hikmah, Kg Likas, Kota Kinabalu and Matakana by Etania Schools, Beaufort.

The youth were presented with a 100-hour digital literacy course at their alternative learning centre. The course allowed students to venture hands-on into artisanal crafts, metalworking and electricity, food technology, and digital literacy workshops offered as employable skills. The module was designed to give these youth an opportunity to develop fundamental vocational skills either in artisanal crafts, metalworking and electricity, food technology and digital literacy. The vocational skills integrated and combined elements of education and employability to optimize relevance for participants.

The programme utilized Project-Based Learning which involves completing hands-on projects, immersive experience, active experimentation, and learning from mistakes. It was designed to encourage development of a ‘growth mindset’, where the students are taught to break through their own perceived limitations in capability, and to adopt a life-long learning mentality, creativity, and adaptability. The programme concluded with a crowdfunding campaign as their final project, where the youths raised MYR150,000 through two Actyvate crowdfunding campaigns in three months.