KIGALI - Over 600 youth will benefit from an internship program by the Rwanda Development Board.

The program, Rwanda Youth Internship Program (RYIP) will equip unemployed youth with skills and practical experiences.

Speaking during the launch of the program on Tuesday, the Minister for Youth, Protais Mitali, said that the program will help young graduates gain experience working in their chosen fields of study.

"Interns are backed by senior staff who help them to translate academic knowledge into practical skills,”

"The world of work needs a complex array of personal and professional character traits some of which are not sufficiently developed through university studies,” he said. 

"Youth employment is an absolute central issue for the development of Rwanda.”

The Minister said that RYIP is in line with government’s approved action plan to promote youth employment with three main objectives which include Employment, Entrepreneurship and Employment creation.

According to Apollo Munanura, the acting deputy CEO of RDB in charge of Human Capital and Institutional Development (HCID), the program will contribute significantly to improving their skills while also helping address the human resource constraints which many institutions may be facing.

"We expect that, youth internship programme in public and private institutions in the country and abroad to ease the transition between school and the workforce” he said.

"Our target this year is 600 interns but if we get the needed cooperation from hosting institutions both private and the public, we do hope to go beyond this target.”

Munanura noted that since its inception RYIP has been run by the Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) until it was transferred to RDB/HCID division for implementation and coordination.

Speaking to The New Times, Anna Mugabo, the Director General of labour and employment in MIFOTRA, said that the program was transferred to RDB/HCID division because we saw it to be one of the key mandates of HCID department to develop human capital.
‘But we shall continue partnering with RDB to implement the program,” Mugabo noted

She said that it’s the time for the interns to market themselves and know the dos and don’ts’ of various institutions.

Over 230 interns started their internships, yesterday, in 32 various institutions in the country which will run for six months.

The interns will get lunch and transport allowance during the duration of the internship.

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