A/HRC/40/31 opportunity to combine a return to learning with family, work and other responsibilities. The Learning for Young Adults project in Slovenia has the same objectives. Turkey is promoting training on entrepreneurship and new technologies, especially for young engineer graduates, with the Supporting Young Information Technology Entrepreneurs project. 69. To ensure that even the most marginalized youth can attend higher education, many States grant scholarships, such as Bécate in Mexico. In 2017 alone, Ecuador granted 3,750 scholarships directed at students belonging to marginalized groups. 70. In the area of youth education, the National Youth programme of Croatia aims to prepare young people for active citizenship and non-violence, and improves their participation in political and public life. In addition, the programme awards scholarships for young researchers and postgraduate students to improve their competitiveness and opportunities in the labour market. Croatia highlighted that civil society organizations played a role in designing and implementing the National Youth programme, in particular youth associations. For example, youth was actively involved in developing measures for long-term unemployed young people, identifying groups at risk of social exclusion and initiatives for adequate support. B. Promoting the transition from school to work 71. Various stakeholders have highlighted comprehensive programmes to facilitate the transition of young people from school to work, including the More and Better Jobs for Youth programme in Argentina, the Youth Employability programme in New Zealand, the Youth Employment project in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Great Social Mission for Youth Employment in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The Youth reach programme in Ireland provides full-time education, training and practical experience for unemployed young adults between the ages of 15 and 20. The application of new technology is integrated into all aspects of the programme and there is a strong emphasis on core skills, literacy/numeracy, communications and information communications technology. Participants’ needs, interests and capacities are taken into account as the programme offers the opportunity to identify and pursue viable professional options. 72. In the context of the National Youth programme, the Croatian Employment Service has adopted special measures for the recruitment of historically disadvantaged groups of young people, including youth with disabilities and young members of the Roma minority. Among those special measures are individual employment counselling, professional employment plans, workshops for active job search, employment clubs, career information and counselling centres and topic-related lectures. 73. The My First Job programme in Ecuador aims at placing students in apprenticeships in the public and private sectors in order to provide them with work experience. The Children and Youth Development Fund in Georgia supports youth in school-to-work transitions by promoting entrepreneurship and skills development, in particular for marginalized youth, including young persons with disabilities and those belonging to minority groups. 74. The First Challenge programme, part of the Youth Employment initiative, in Slovenia supports first-time jobseekers in gaining crucial work experience. The programme consists of 3 months on-the-job mentored training, followed by 12 months of subsidized employment. The Youth Guarantee programme strengthened the existing counselling services for young people by introducing an up-to-date web information platform for youth. C. Closing the gender gap 75. Subsidies for women’s self-employment are offered to young women graduates in Slovenia to create start-ups. They need to have been unemployed for at least three months and completed a mandatory entrepreneurship training financed by the Ministry of Economic Development and Technology. 13