Virtual Workplace

JA Mascareignes seeks to address the unemployment level among Mauritian girls by providing a solution which will make them become more employable.    

The Virtual Workplace is a 4 day Workshop where young Mauritian girls/women learn about key work-readiness skills through the use of digital platforms. The participants learn skills such as Critical Thinking, Creativity Communication, Collaboration, Soft Skills, CV and Cover Letter writing skills, and Interview Skills. They learn those skills through a series of activities which makes use of digital platforms, such as Google Slides, Google Docs, Kahoot and Virtual Reality.

Following their participation in this program, the girls will be better prepared to get and keep a job in the 21st Century world of work. 

The Virtual Workplace aims at increasing women’s participation in the workplace. It will do so by equipping them with work-readiness skills which will increase their chances of getting employed.

Women are more often excluded from economic activities in Mauritius than men are. While it is important to highlight that significant progress has been made in recent years, a Statistic Mauritius Report in 2018 still identified that:

-  In spite of being fewer in the labour force, women make up a greater number of the unemployed figures at 58.4%.

-  Average monthly income tends to be lower for women than men – MUR 18,600 against MUR 24,400 in 2018.

-  Women are more likely than men to live in poverty. Poor Households are more likely headed by women.

Additionally, in 2020, Mauritius, ranked 115th worldwide overall (out of 153 countries) for the Global Gender Gap Index of the World Economic Forum, and more precisely 116th (out of 153 countries) for Economic Participation and Opportunities.

The above research demonstrates that there is a significant gender gap in the Mauritian work place and the Virtual Workplace will contribute to bridging the existing -disparity

The Virtual Workplace will address this issue by teaching the beneficiaries key work-readiness and digital skills by focusing on the following topics:

• The 4Cs of 21st Century Skills
• Soft Skills
• Know Your Work Priorities Know Who’s Hiring
• Personal Brand and Interview Skills

Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration are known as the learning skills that will help the participants to adapt and improve in the 21st Century workplace. They will practice those skills by collaborating on a common project, while using Google Slides.

Soft skills are personal attributes and behaviors that make a significant difference on the workplace. the participants complete a soft skills assessment quiz.

The participants use an online questionnaire to identify their Work Priorities. They also learn about the High Growth Industries in Mauritius and how to use the online recruitment platforms to look for a job.

The participants work on their CV and Cover Letter using Google Docs and create a professional Social Media Profile. The participants take part in a mock interview.

The students will complete the workshop with a Virtual Reality Job Shadow Experience, which will provide them with a virtual overview of the workplace of the workplace.

The Virtual Workplace will target young vulnerable girls/women aged between 17-25 years old.

The proposed solution will impact their lives by providing them with the following key Work Readiness Skills:

• Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration.
• Soft Skills.
• Understanding their Work Priorities.
• Identifying the High Growth Industries which will be recruiting in the future.
• CV and Cover Letter writing skills.
• Interview Skills
• How to use PowerPoint to create a poster (while working on the 4Cs activity).
• How to create a Word Document.
• How to create a digital Professional Profile.
• The use of their mobile phones to take part in a quiz and a poll, and the VR Job Shadow experience will encourage the young women to be more involved in STEM related careers. 

Virtual Workplace aims at providing key work readiness education to young Mauritian girls, and to increase their participation in the local economy. The approach taken deliberately makes use of existing technologies which the girls will be called upon to use in the 21st Century work-place. They get to work together to create a PowerPoint Presentation or a Word Document. They see how their mobile phone can be used to collect data, through the quiz and poll. They are also introduced to Virtual Reality, through the Virtual Job Shadowing experience.

The Virtual Workplace is an innovative solution as it is a simple, and therefore accessible, mix of existing programs and technologies.

The program is based on the “JA Career Success Program”, implemented by JA Mascareignes since 2015, and which teaches work-readiness skills to students aged 16-18 years old. The Covid-19 lockdown has sped up the digitalisation process and has led to the use of existing technological platforms to create the “Online Work Readiness Program”. The end result was an improved JA Career Success which mixes work-readiness skills with key digital skills.

The Virtual Reality Job Shadow was developed by JA Singapore, who is now helping JA Mascareignes (Mauritius) to develop its own VR experience. It would be the first form of VR experience in the Mauritius Education System. It would allow the young female citizens to gain a virtual access to the World of Work and could increase their interest in STEM related careers.

The end-result is an innovative approach to teaching key work-readiness skills to Mauritian young female citizens while at the same time allowing them to use technology as they would in the workplace.

The core technology used in this solution is “the internet”. All the platforms, Google Slide, Google Document and Kahoot are readily available on any browser. They can also be accessed through mobile apps. JA Mascareignes has made a provision for the supply of basic smart phones to the participants, which they will use to take part in the activities.

Google Slides has been chosen for the 4Cs activity as it allows the students to apply Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration. The participants are placed in groups and the platform allows them to work simultaneously on the same slide. Google Slides is also similar to Microsoft PowerPoint, which the young female citizens will have to use once they enter the workplace.

Kahoot is a fun way of engaging the participants about the importance of soft skills, through a quiz. The platform allows several participants to compete in the quiz using their mobile phone. It is also an opportunity for the young female citizens to see how they could use a mobile phone to collect data for a survey.

Google Document allows the participants to write their CV and Cover Letter. The facilitators are also able to make “track changes” and “comments” on the same file. It remains accessible to both participants and facilitators at any time. Google Document is similar to Microsoft Word, which the young female citizens will be using once they enter the workplace.

JA Mascareignes has been running an online version of the proposed program since April 2020. It has been a success with 130 beneficiaries reached so far, with a low dropout rate at 5.7%. The monitoring and evaluation has also been positive, for each batch of students, with a clear increase in the knowledge acquired throughout the sessions.

The feedback received from the participants is a clear indication that the use of these platforms works. It is in fact their favorite part of the program and there has been a demand to increase the number of activities using these platforms. The knowledge gain, identified in the M&E, is an indication that it is not just a fun way of learning, but that the participants are also coming out of it with key work-readiness skills.

Google Slides, Google Documents and Kahoot are widely used platforms which have already shown their potential to be used for professional and educational purposes. 

Junior Achievement’s Theory of Change is centered on Self-Efficacy, which is that people who have a firm belief that they will succeed are more likely to succeed. It is a belief that is developed in two ways:

• Mastering skills through hands-on learning and experience.
• Observing the success of others who have self-efficacy.

Every JA Programs is based on this Theory of Change, which is why the hands-on approach is key to all JA activities.

The Virtual Workplace follows the same principle which aims at enabling the young female citizens to learn by doing. Through the activities, they will get the opportunity to experience the reality of the work-place:

• The participants learn about the 4Cs (Critical Thinking, Creativity, Communication and Collaboration) by working on a common project, while using Google Slides.
• They learn about soft skills by taking part in an assessment quiz, which simulates workplace situations where they have to decide how they would react. Their reaction is a way for them to assess if they have the right soft skills, for the situation.
• They learn about CVs and Cover Letters by writing one.
• They get the opportunity to experience the world of work through the VR Job Shadow, where they will have to accomplish a set of task as a virtual worker.

The hands-on approach will enable the participants to understand how these technological tools are used in the workplace. They will get the opportunity to use them, as they would in the workplace and be assessed by their peers.

JA Mascareignes firmly believes that it will enable the participants to feel confident in their own ability to use technology in the workplace, when they get a job. The self-efficacy will in turn translate in the confidence that they will display during their job interviews and during their probation periods. This self-confidence coupled with the key work-readiness skills, covered in the Virtual Workplace means that the young female citizens are more likely to get and keep a job. 

The JA Career Success Program was launched in 2015 and has as at date reached 5,814 beneficiaries. The first online version was launched during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020 and has at date reached 130 beneficiaries.

The aim is to reach around 250 youth in 2021, through the work readiness program.

The five years target for the Virtual Workplace is to reach around 3,000 beneficiaries.

The goals for the Virtual Workplace program is to have it ready to be implemented by the end of 2020.

The program will be rolled out in 2021, with a target of around 500 beneficiaries. The target will increased to 1,000 beneficiaries in 2022 and increase at an increasing rate until 2025.  

The main barriers which currently threaten the achievement of the set goals are:

• Covid-19 related restrictions, hinder the access to beneficiaries.
• Access to internet facilities by beneficiaries. 

JA Mascareignes plans to overcome these barriers in the following ways:

• The organisation will be able to draw from its experience during the lockdown to run an online version of the program. The VR Job Shadowing experience will then be delayed until direct access to the beneficiaries is again made possible.
• JA Mascareignes has already successfully secured sim cards with internet packages and a few smartphones. These could then be used by the beneficiaries to take part in the digital part of the program.

The organisation was also looking at the possibility of using USB routers, to provide internet access to the beneficiaries during the sessions.

The Junior Achievement Mascareignes team consists of the 5 following members:

• 1 Executive Director
• 1 Development and Training Manager
• 1 Program Manager
• 1 Project Coordinator/Monitoring and Evaluation Officer 1 Education and Training Officer

Junior  Achievement  Mascareignes,  a  member  of  JA  Worldwide,  is  a  non-governmental organisation  operating  since  December  2009. The organisation focuses on the empowerment of the Mauritian youth to enable them to make the transition between schools/technical institutions and the 21st Century Workplace. The three pillars of our action are: Entrepreneurship, Financial Literacy and Work Readiness. JA Mascareignes also benefits from being part of a 117 Member Nations Worldwide network (JAWW)which has been operating for the empowerment of the Youth across the globe since 1919.

The JA Mascareignes  has been implementing Work-Readiness Programs since 2010. The lockdown was an opportunity to be creative and has resulted with the launch of the Online Work Readiness Program. It has served as an indication that it is the way to go for JA Programs, as the Mauritian youth are more able and motivated to connect with digital platforms than paper based programs. The JA Mascareignes team has shown its ability to adapt and be innovative in times of restrictions. The experience of digitalizing one of its existing program has been valuable and will be very helpful moving forward.

JA Mascareignes can also rely on the experience of other JA Member Nations. JA Nigeria has run a hackathon program in 2018, JA South Korea has been using digital platforms for several years and JA Singapore has developed the Virtual Job Shadow experience. The abovementioned Member Nations have either contacted or been contacted by JA Mascareignes during the lock down for a sharing of best practices. 

Junior Achievement partners with the following organisations:

• JA Worldwide: As a member, JA Mascareignes has access to all the JA Programs developed by the other 116 JA Member Nations.
• JA Africa: JA Mascareignes reports to its regional office (JA Africa) and benefits from the experience of the other countries in the Africa region.
• Ministry of Education, Tertiary Education, Science and Technology, with whom JA Mascareignes has a Memorandum of Understanding giving it access to Primary and Secondary Schools in the Republic of Mauritius.
• Mauritius Institute of Development and Training: 4 JA Programs are currently being implemented with the MITD, giving JA Mascareignes access to young people who are no longer in the mainstream branch of the Mauritian education system.
• Other NGOs/Community Based Groups: JA Programs are implemented with other NGOs that share JA Mascareignes philosophy.

Junior Achievement Mascareignes is a registered Non-Governmental Organisation. It is a member of Junior Achievement Worldwide and part of the JA Africa region. The JA Model is a collaborative model, where the organisation partners with educational organisations for the delivery of its program.

Junior Achievement empowers the youth to prepare them to make the transition from the Education World to the World of Work, by bridging the gap between the two sectors.

In Mauritius, JA Programs are implemented in:

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools
• Vocational Training Centres
• Other NGOs
• Traditional courses (5-7 sessions), implemented in a classroom format, in schools.
• Workshops
• Online Courses
• Competitions

The programs are delivered in the following format:

The programs are implemented by the JA Mascareignes staff, with the exception of the traditional courses, which are sometimes implemented by trained teachers.

Junior Achievement Mascareignes, as a registered Non-Governmental Organisation, is eligible for CSR support in Mauritius. The organisation has also received funding from the National Social Inclusion Foundation for the past three years. The Foundation is responsible for the re-allocation of 75% of the CSR funding from the private sector in Mauritius.

For the funding of the [Enter Name] project, JA Mascareignes will seek the financial support of the local private sector, local foundations and international donors. A clear fundraising strategy will be carried out to ensure that the program is

At local level, this will include meeting with local companies for financial and in-kind support. JA Mascareignes has, for example, already benefited from the donation of smartphones and sim cards from a local telecommunication company. The program will also be marketed with the National Social Inclusion Foundation.

For international funding, JA Mascareignes has sought the support of its regional office, JA Africa, to improve its fundraising effort at international level. 

JA Mascareignes hopes to develop and professionalise its digital platforms to better reach out and serve the young female beneficiaries. The program aims to help beneficiaries learn and develop work readiness skills with the program’s content. Through technology JA Mascareignes hopes to sustain and retain their interest to further develop their skills and competencies. Solve can help us drive our use of technology in the most effective and efficient way. As such we will be able to provide our young female beneficiaries an opportunity to explore the possibilities of a virtual experience. They will be less likely to be apprehensive of the world of work when they have had a virtual experience already.  With a funding opportunity from Solve, JA Mascareignes can invest on professional platforms designed to inspire young female citizens to choose STEM career pathways. By providing VR Equipment and VR experience to better quip them with work readiness competencies, Junior Achievement Mascareignes aims to support the beneficiaries transition smoothly into the world of work. The Monitoring and Evaluation of the program will enable us to identify corrective measures towards program implementation. It will help us assess the implementation and knowing if the intended results are being achieved as planned.

As a member of JA Worldwide we understand the advantages of being in a network.JA Worldwide, with its track record of 100 years, working in 123 countries across the globe, provides JA Mascareignes with quality education programs in work readiness.We hope to benefit from Solve's international repute, experience and expertise and so share this same experience with our local partners.JA Mascareignes’ actions have ensured, since its inception, the fidelity of its funder members and local corporates over the past 10 years. We aim to continue sharing same with our potential partners. We work at different levels which includes capacity building of staff, well defined policies and procedures within the organisation, work culture, relevant registration with authorities (Registrar of Association, NSIF) are some of its priorities.  Regular progress reports and evaluation are sent to funders for accountability and transparency.

Solve members and organisations sharing the same vision and objectives as per our three pillars which are : Entrepreneurship, Financial Literacy and Work Readiness.

The hands-on approach of the program Virtual work place will enable the participants to understand how those technological tools are used in the workplace. They will get the opportunity to use it, as they would in the workplace and be assessed by their peers.

JA Mascareignes firmly believes that it will enable the participants to feel confident in their own ability to use technology in the workplace, when they get a job. The self-efficacy will in turn translate in the confidence that they will show during their job interview and during their probation period. This self-confidence mixed with the key work-readiness skills, covered in the program mean that the young young female citizens are more likely to get and keep a job.