3,000 Rwandans for youth dev’t convention

Over 3,000 youth from within the country and the Diaspora are expected to attend this year’s Youth Connect Convention slated for December, 12, in Kigali.

Saturday, November 24, 2012
Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, addressing students in a previous meeting. A youth forum next month will bring together 3000. The New Times / File.

Over 3,000 youth from within the country and the Diaspora are expected to attend this year’s Youth Connect Convention slated for December, 12, in Kigali.This was announced this week by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth and ICT, Rosemary Mbabazi. The meet, which is expected to be held annually, aims at bringing together the youth to deliberate on critical issues like unemployment and sharing experiences in different categories.Mbabazi said 810 are expected from upcountry cooperatives and faith-based groups while 250 will come from the Diaspora.Kigali is expected to contribute the largest number of participants to the event expected to take place at Amahoro National Stadium in Remera. "We are looking at all categories of youth, we are looking at forging the future together while looking at the past, present and the future,” said Mbabazi."We shall dwell more on solutions to unemployment among the youth.  We are looking at how we can make the youth productive, we are working closely with all stakeholders to enhance productivity among the youth and how we can create jobs,” she said.Mbabazi said that the government has come up with ways of helping youth become job creators after accessing help from the Business Development Fund. According to Donat Nishyirembere, in charge of youth entrepreneurship in the National Youth Council, the convention will be fruitful to the participants."Some of the participants will showcase their achievement for others to learn from, he said. After the conference, selected youth representatives will join the government leaders at the annual national dialogue.