At least 1,300 young women were yesterday awarded certificates after completing a six-month training in various technical and vocational disciplines as well as entrepreneurial skills.

The girls are beneficiaries of the Adolescent Girls Initiatives (Agi-Rwanda), an initiative that is supported by different institutions.

The graduates are disadvantaged adolescent girls and young women from nine vocational training centres (VTC) operating in Gasabo, Kicukiro, Rulindo and Gicumbi districts.

The girls have formed 69 cooperatives with 38 registered in Rwanda Cooperative Agency, 22 at the district level and nine at the sector level.

Odette Mukakabera, who undertook her studies from Rutare VTC, said; "After the Agi training, in a cooperative, we started a simple bakery with capital of just Rwf70,000 and soon after we received Rwf8 million from World Vision, then we became a big company with all equipment.”

Addressing the graduates, Jerome Gasana, the director-general of the Workforce Development Authority (WDA), pledged to increase the number of girls in technical schools.

He reiterated WDA’s target of having at least 60 per cent of upper secondary school students in technical schools by 2017.

In partnership with WDA, the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion, Imbuto Foundation, and funded by the World Bank, Agi seeks to improve employment opportunities, enhance incomes and empower targeted disadvantaged  adolescent girls and young women aged 15-24 to make a successful transition from school to work.