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29.05.2026
From Digital Divide to Global Talent: Investing in Young Human Capital in the Global South
In the twenty-first century, human capital has become the decisive foundation of economic progress and societal well-being, eclipsing natural resources and industrial capacity as the primary sources of national power. In a world that is rapidly shifting towards multipolarity, the “New Global Growth Platform” places the development of people’s skills, knowledge and capabilities at the very center of sustainable and inclusive growth.
Nowhere is this transformation more urgent than in the countries of the Global South, where a predominantly young population grows up at the intersection of unprecedented technological opportunities and persistent structural constraints. Millions of adolescents and young adults live only a few clicks away from world‑class education and global labour markets, yet remain separated from them by the digital divide, underfunded education systems and fragile labour prospects.
This essay argues that investing strategically in the young human capital of the Global South – in digital education, health, transferable skills and shared values – is not only a moral imperative, but a prerequisite for long‑term economic development and geopolitical stability in a multipolar world. Without a deliberate effort to transform today’s “lost opportunities” into empowered, digitally skilled and socially responsible young citizens, the promise of a new global growth platform will remain incomplete.
By 2033, the Global South will host the largest youth cohort in human history, with more than one billion people aged 15 to 24. Yet hundreds of millions of these young people are projected to leave school too early, enter labour markets without adequate skills, or remain excluded from formal employment altogether, reinforcing cycles of poverty and frustration.
This paradox is particularly visible in many middle-income countries, where access to smartphones and social media coexists with fragile education systems, uneven digital infrastructure and persistent territorial and social inequalities. In Latin America, for example, studies on Argentina show that although a majority of students report having basic technical skills to participate in virtual education, access to devices and reliable internet remains highly unequal across schools and households, widening existing learning gaps.
Similar patterns can be observed across Africa and other regions of the Global South, where youth unemployment rates reach 40–45 percent in some countries and the digital economy remains an opportunity only for a minority. Young people are thus caught in a structural contradiction: they belong to the most connected generation in history, but many are still disconnected from quality education, decent work and meaningful participation in the digital transformation that is reshaping the global economy.
The rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence into education has created a powerful paradox for young people in the Global South. On the one hand, AI‑powered tutoring systems, adaptive learning platforms and automated translation tools can personalise instruction, help students catch up after learning losses and open access to world‑class content at very low marginal cost. On the other hand, limited connectivity, scarce devices and the absence of robust regulatory and ethical frameworks mean that these technologies often amplify existing inequalities, benefitting those who are already better connected, better educated and better protected.
Recent analyses warn that, without deliberate public investment, AI may deepen structural disadvantages: advanced economies concentrate computing power, data and research capacity, while many countries in the Global South face the double threat of technological unemployment and exclusion from high‑value segments of the digital economy. Young people in labour‑intensive sectors are particularly exposed to automation risks, even as they lack opportunities to acquire the digital and transversal skills that would allow them to move into new AI‑enabled occupations.
This tension turns education policy into a decisive arena for human‑capital investment. Equipping adolescents and young adults with strong foundational learning, digital literacy, coding and data skills, but also with critical thinking, ethical awareness and the ability to learn continuously, is essential to ensure that AI becomes a tool for inclusion rather than a driver of marginalisation. Around the world, initiatives such as UNESCO‑supported AI curricula and youth‑focused programmes that teach programming and responsible technology use demonstrate that, when targeted at underserved communities, investments in AI‑ready education can transform the digital divide into a ladder of social mobility.
In this context, international cooperation becomes a decisive lever for turning demographic pressure into a youth dividend, especially in the Global South. Partnerships that combine scholarships, joint research, digital‑skills programmes and mobility schemes can accelerate the build‑up of young human capital, while also fostering mutual understanding in an increasingly fragmented international system. Russia has explicitly framed education and scientific collaboration as pillars of its vision for a “New Global Growth Platform”, positioning its universities and research centres as hubs for training future leaders from Eurasia, Africa and Latin America.
In recent years, the Russian government has expanded the number of state‑funded places for foreign students to around 15,000 per year and set the goal of hosting at least 500,000 international students by 2030, with a strong presence from countries in the Global South. Scholarship schemes and initiatives such as the “Open Doors” Olympiad and other fully funded programmes offer young people from developing regions access to degrees in engineering, computer science, medicine and other strategic fields at Russian universities. These measures, if aligned with the needs of partner countries, can significantly enhance the stock of highly skilled youth and create long‑term networks of scientific and entrepreneurial cooperation.
At the same time, Russia’s emphasis on technology‑intensive sectors – from nuclear energy and space to information technology – opens a window for more targeted collaborations focused on digital skills and future professions. Joint programmes that link Russian universities and technology platforms with schools, vocational institutions and youth innovation hubs in the Global South could help bridge the gap between global technological frontiers and local education systems. If designed with reciprocity in mind, such partnerships would not simply attract talented students away from their home countries, but support them in building capacities and networks that they can reinvest in their own societies, transforming potential brain drain into “brain circulation” within a truly multipolar ecosystem of human capital.
Translating these principles into action requires a focused set of policy priorities that place young people at the centre of human‑capital strategies in the Global South. Governments, international organisations and partner countries such as Russia should concentrate their investments on three mutually reinforcing pillars: universal digital foundations, targeted opportunities for vulnerable youth, and mechanisms that turn potential brain drain into productive “brain circulation”.
First, universal digital foundations are indispensable. This means guaranteeing reliable connectivity for schools and training centres, equipping classrooms with adequate devices, and supporting teachers with continuous professional development in digital pedagogy and AI‑enhanced learning tools. Establishing common standards for digital and AI literacy by the end of secondary education would ensure that every young person, regardless of geography or income, acquires the basic competencies needed to participate in the emerging digital economy.
Second, targeted opportunities for vulnerable youth can turn abstract commitments into life‑changing trajectories. Priority should be given to scholarships, coding bootcamps, and interdisciplinary programmes that recruit talented adolescents from under‑resourced communities and provide them with intensive training in STEM, data skills and entrepreneurship, combined with mentorship and psychosocial support. Partnerships between Russian universities, technology platforms and institutions in the Global South could create joint innovation labs where young teams work on AI‑enabled solutions to local challenges in health, climate resilience and sustainable cities.
Third, policies must foster brain circulation rather than brain drain. This implies designing scholarship and mobility schemes that encourage graduates to maintain strong professional ties with their home countries through return fellowships, remote research collaborations, start‑up incubators and diaspora networks. By co‑funding youth‑led projects and enterprises that link Russian and Global South ecosystems, stakeholders can ensure that international training does not simply relocate talent, but multiplies its impact across borders, reinforcing a genuinely multipolar architecture of human capital.
As the world moves towards an increasingly multipolar order, the real fault line will not simply run between North and South, or East and West, but between societies that invest in their young human capital and those that allow a generation’s potential to be wasted. The Global South stands at the centre of this crossroads: it holds the largest youth population in history, yet it also carries some of the deepest digital, educational and employment divides.
If the “New Global Growth Platform” is to be more than a slogan, it must become, above all, a youth platform – one that guarantees every young person the chance to acquire relevant skills, to participate in the digital transformation, and to contribute to the prosperity of their own societies. Strategic investments in education, AI‑ready skills and international cooperation, including deeper partnerships between Russia and the countries of the Global South, can transform today’s inequalities into shared opportunities.
We, the youth of the Global South, do not ask to be passive beneficiaries of development, but to be recognised as co‑architects of the twenty‑first century. Our expectation is clear: that states, institutions and global platforms will match our aspirations with concrete, long‑term commitments to invest in our human capital. Only then will the promise of a new global growth platform be fulfilled – not through the extraction of resources or the race for short‑term advantages, but through a generation of empowered, educated and connected young citizens capable of shaping a more just and sustainable world.
Sources and information:
● World Bank. Making Labor Markets Work for the Youth. 2024.
● World Bank / S4YE. Toward Solutions for Youth Employment: A Baseline for 2015.
● UNDP South Africa. Empowering Youth for a Digital Future: Closing the Digital Divide and Paving the Way for a Thriving Digital Economy. 2024.
● AfterAccess / Research ICT Africa. Future of Work in the Global South: Digital Labour, New Opportunities and Challenges.
● World Bank / Vienna Development Center. AI in Schools: Opportunities, Challenges & Realities for the Global South. 2025.
● UNESCO / ITU. UN AI Actions – UNESCO Initiatives on AI and Education. 2024.
● Swisscontact. Fostering Digital Skills in the Global South.
● Dialnet / UNSa. Brecha y desigualdad digital en la educación argentina.
● Open Dialogue – National Center “Russia”. Open Dialogue: The Future of the World. A New Global Growth Platform. Official project page.
● Modern Diplomacy. Russia Educating and Training Future African Leaders. 2024.
Nowhere is this transformation more urgent than in the countries of the Global South, where a predominantly young population grows up at the intersection of unprecedented technological opportunities and persistent structural constraints. Millions of adolescents and young adults live only a few clicks away from world‑class education and global labour markets, yet remain separated from them by the digital divide, underfunded education systems and fragile labour prospects.
This essay argues that investing strategically in the young human capital of the Global South – in digital education, health, transferable skills and shared values – is not only a moral imperative, but a prerequisite for long‑term economic development and geopolitical stability in a multipolar world. Without a deliberate effort to transform today’s “lost opportunities” into empowered, digitally skilled and socially responsible young citizens, the promise of a new global growth platform will remain incomplete.
By 2033, the Global South will host the largest youth cohort in human history, with more than one billion people aged 15 to 24. Yet hundreds of millions of these young people are projected to leave school too early, enter labour markets without adequate skills, or remain excluded from formal employment altogether, reinforcing cycles of poverty and frustration.
This paradox is particularly visible in many middle-income countries, where access to smartphones and social media coexists with fragile education systems, uneven digital infrastructure and persistent territorial and social inequalities. In Latin America, for example, studies on Argentina show that although a majority of students report having basic technical skills to participate in virtual education, access to devices and reliable internet remains highly unequal across schools and households, widening existing learning gaps.
Similar patterns can be observed across Africa and other regions of the Global South, where youth unemployment rates reach 40–45 percent in some countries and the digital economy remains an opportunity only for a minority. Young people are thus caught in a structural contradiction: they belong to the most connected generation in history, but many are still disconnected from quality education, decent work and meaningful participation in the digital transformation that is reshaping the global economy.
The rapid diffusion of artificial intelligence into education has created a powerful paradox for young people in the Global South. On the one hand, AI‑powered tutoring systems, adaptive learning platforms and automated translation tools can personalise instruction, help students catch up after learning losses and open access to world‑class content at very low marginal cost. On the other hand, limited connectivity, scarce devices and the absence of robust regulatory and ethical frameworks mean that these technologies often amplify existing inequalities, benefitting those who are already better connected, better educated and better protected.
Recent analyses warn that, without deliberate public investment, AI may deepen structural disadvantages: advanced economies concentrate computing power, data and research capacity, while many countries in the Global South face the double threat of technological unemployment and exclusion from high‑value segments of the digital economy. Young people in labour‑intensive sectors are particularly exposed to automation risks, even as they lack opportunities to acquire the digital and transversal skills that would allow them to move into new AI‑enabled occupations.
This tension turns education policy into a decisive arena for human‑capital investment. Equipping adolescents and young adults with strong foundational learning, digital literacy, coding and data skills, but also with critical thinking, ethical awareness and the ability to learn continuously, is essential to ensure that AI becomes a tool for inclusion rather than a driver of marginalisation. Around the world, initiatives such as UNESCO‑supported AI curricula and youth‑focused programmes that teach programming and responsible technology use demonstrate that, when targeted at underserved communities, investments in AI‑ready education can transform the digital divide into a ladder of social mobility.
In this context, international cooperation becomes a decisive lever for turning demographic pressure into a youth dividend, especially in the Global South. Partnerships that combine scholarships, joint research, digital‑skills programmes and mobility schemes can accelerate the build‑up of young human capital, while also fostering mutual understanding in an increasingly fragmented international system. Russia has explicitly framed education and scientific collaboration as pillars of its vision for a “New Global Growth Platform”, positioning its universities and research centres as hubs for training future leaders from Eurasia, Africa and Latin America.
In recent years, the Russian government has expanded the number of state‑funded places for foreign students to around 15,000 per year and set the goal of hosting at least 500,000 international students by 2030, with a strong presence from countries in the Global South. Scholarship schemes and initiatives such as the “Open Doors” Olympiad and other fully funded programmes offer young people from developing regions access to degrees in engineering, computer science, medicine and other strategic fields at Russian universities. These measures, if aligned with the needs of partner countries, can significantly enhance the stock of highly skilled youth and create long‑term networks of scientific and entrepreneurial cooperation.
At the same time, Russia’s emphasis on technology‑intensive sectors – from nuclear energy and space to information technology – opens a window for more targeted collaborations focused on digital skills and future professions. Joint programmes that link Russian universities and technology platforms with schools, vocational institutions and youth innovation hubs in the Global South could help bridge the gap between global technological frontiers and local education systems. If designed with reciprocity in mind, such partnerships would not simply attract talented students away from their home countries, but support them in building capacities and networks that they can reinvest in their own societies, transforming potential brain drain into “brain circulation” within a truly multipolar ecosystem of human capital.
Translating these principles into action requires a focused set of policy priorities that place young people at the centre of human‑capital strategies in the Global South. Governments, international organisations and partner countries such as Russia should concentrate their investments on three mutually reinforcing pillars: universal digital foundations, targeted opportunities for vulnerable youth, and mechanisms that turn potential brain drain into productive “brain circulation”.
First, universal digital foundations are indispensable. This means guaranteeing reliable connectivity for schools and training centres, equipping classrooms with adequate devices, and supporting teachers with continuous professional development in digital pedagogy and AI‑enhanced learning tools. Establishing common standards for digital and AI literacy by the end of secondary education would ensure that every young person, regardless of geography or income, acquires the basic competencies needed to participate in the emerging digital economy.
Second, targeted opportunities for vulnerable youth can turn abstract commitments into life‑changing trajectories. Priority should be given to scholarships, coding bootcamps, and interdisciplinary programmes that recruit talented adolescents from under‑resourced communities and provide them with intensive training in STEM, data skills and entrepreneurship, combined with mentorship and psychosocial support. Partnerships between Russian universities, technology platforms and institutions in the Global South could create joint innovation labs where young teams work on AI‑enabled solutions to local challenges in health, climate resilience and sustainable cities.
Third, policies must foster brain circulation rather than brain drain. This implies designing scholarship and mobility schemes that encourage graduates to maintain strong professional ties with their home countries through return fellowships, remote research collaborations, start‑up incubators and diaspora networks. By co‑funding youth‑led projects and enterprises that link Russian and Global South ecosystems, stakeholders can ensure that international training does not simply relocate talent, but multiplies its impact across borders, reinforcing a genuinely multipolar architecture of human capital.
As the world moves towards an increasingly multipolar order, the real fault line will not simply run between North and South, or East and West, but between societies that invest in their young human capital and those that allow a generation’s potential to be wasted. The Global South stands at the centre of this crossroads: it holds the largest youth population in history, yet it also carries some of the deepest digital, educational and employment divides.
If the “New Global Growth Platform” is to be more than a slogan, it must become, above all, a youth platform – one that guarantees every young person the chance to acquire relevant skills, to participate in the digital transformation, and to contribute to the prosperity of their own societies. Strategic investments in education, AI‑ready skills and international cooperation, including deeper partnerships between Russia and the countries of the Global South, can transform today’s inequalities into shared opportunities.
We, the youth of the Global South, do not ask to be passive beneficiaries of development, but to be recognised as co‑architects of the twenty‑first century. Our expectation is clear: that states, institutions and global platforms will match our aspirations with concrete, long‑term commitments to invest in our human capital. Only then will the promise of a new global growth platform be fulfilled – not through the extraction of resources or the race for short‑term advantages, but through a generation of empowered, educated and connected young citizens capable of shaping a more just and sustainable world.
Sources and information:
● World Bank. Making Labor Markets Work for the Youth. 2024.
● World Bank / S4YE. Toward Solutions for Youth Employment: A Baseline for 2015.
● UNDP South Africa. Empowering Youth for a Digital Future: Closing the Digital Divide and Paving the Way for a Thriving Digital Economy. 2024.
● AfterAccess / Research ICT Africa. Future of Work in the Global South: Digital Labour, New Opportunities and Challenges.
● World Bank / Vienna Development Center. AI in Schools: Opportunities, Challenges & Realities for the Global South. 2025.
● UNESCO / ITU. UN AI Actions – UNESCO Initiatives on AI and Education. 2024.
● Swisscontact. Fostering Digital Skills in the Global South.
● Dialnet / UNSa. Brecha y desigualdad digital en la educación argentina.
● Open Dialogue – National Center “Russia”. Open Dialogue: The Future of the World. A New Global Growth Platform. Official project page.
● Modern Diplomacy. Russia Educating and Training Future African Leaders. 2024.
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