Grow with Google is an initiative that helps to ensure that the opportunities created by technology are available to everyone. The goal is to help people get the right skills to find jobs, advance their careers and grow their businesses through tools and training. To this end, the Google Career Certificates Scholarship program funded by Google was introduced to provide young people the opportunity to enroll in four professional certificate courses on Coursera.
The end goal is to enable young people to earn job-ready skills in high-growth, high-demand career fields such as IT Support, Project Management, Data Analytics, and UX Design.
The professional certificate courses take a practice-based approach with no previous degree or experience required.
In partnership with JA Ghana, the program in Ghana seeks to offer vulnerable and marginalized youth from the ages of 18-35 scholarships to earn professional certificates in IT Support, Project Management, Data Analytics, or UX Design.
Beneficiaries receive socioemotional, entrepreneurship, and work readiness training as well as coaching and mentorship about opportunities, trends, and challenges in the industry by professionals to guide and ensure their preparedness to enter the labor market. Graduates of the program are also assisted in acquiring employment apprenticeships, internships, and jobs, or engaging in other livelihood activities such as gig work or informal enterprises within 6 months of completion. Since its first year of implementation in 2022, the Grow with Google program has reached 1,858 participants.