The ever-changing labour market calls for emphasis on digital skills, critical thinking, and problem-solving to increase employment opportunities for young people.

Minister of Youth and Culture, Rosemary Mbabazi, made the remarks in line with today’s celebration of World Youth Skills Day.

Celebrated on July 15, the day aims at promoting youth skills development, and recognising the strategic importance of equipping young people with skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship.

The minister said that technology advancement should inform young people’s career paths as an enabler for other sectors.

"A digital skills gap is growing fast for both mid-skill and high-skill level jobs, that’s why people become irrelevant to the market.”

She therefore urged youth to remain game changers in the digital transformation era, and most importantly, change attitude and shift from white-collar jobs to blue-collar jobs.

"This day provides an opportunity for reflection on youth skills programs, and to create collaborations between youth, government, private sector, and development partners.

"This is why the Government of Rwanda has established tailored policies and strategies to upskill Rwandan youth.”

Building on previous policies in 2017, the government endorsed the National Strategy for Transformation that is expected to lay the foundation for decades of sustained growth and transformation, said Mbabazi.

"This is intended to hasten the move towards achieving high standards of living for all Rwandans. This strategy reflects the aspirations of Rwandans, including young people whereby skills development, productivity and decent work creation are among the main targets.”

She added that entrenched in this strategy, Rwanda has also developed a National Skills Development and Employment Promotion Strategy to build a dynamic and capable workforce, to meet the rising demand for high-skilled jobs. 

The case with unemployment

According to the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda (February 2022), the unemployment rate declined to 16.5 percent as compared to 23.8 percent recorded in November 2021.

Information shows that the unemployment rate remained relatively higher among females (18.2 percent) as compared to males (15.0 percent). It is also relatively higher among the youth population aged 16 years to 30 years (21.5 percent) as compared to that among adults aged 31 years and above (13.1 percent).

Yussouf Ntwali, CEO of BAG Innovation, a platform that provides youth with skills and connects them to employers with the aim to curb unemployment, shared that there is no single silver bullet that will magically enable all youth to acquire the skills they need for success in life, careers, and businesses.

However, he said that there are a number of things that can be done to improve the situation. "Firstly, everyone needs to do a better job of promoting the importance of acquiring skills and knowledge.”

He noted that many young people still believe that they can get by without investing in their own development, a mind-set he said needed to change.

On this note, he encouraged the government to support young people to have access to quality education and training opportunities.

"This includes making sure that schools provide adequate education with sufficient opportunities for vocational training and apprenticeships. We need to create an environment in which businesses are willing to invest in young people and provide them with the opportunities to develop their skills. This comprises mentorship programs, internships, and on-the-job training,” he indicated.

Robert Mugabo, a social entrepreneur, pointed out that young people need skills like writing proficiency, public speaking, and data analysis.

He encouraged youth to take advantage of the fact that Rwanda is developing so fast, and attracting big companies to venture into it.

"However, the skills gap is instead worse in cases where young people are not ready to meet the standards. Public and private sectors should invest in career development hubs.”

These hubs significantly identify the gap in skills and strategise on how best to transfer them to the community members. They solve the gap between what young people learn in school and the skills employers demand in real life, he added.