Over 1,200 youths are set to benefit from a 3-year training programme provided by Plan International Rwanda in partnership with the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Dubbed “Skills Development and Employment Promotion among Youths (SDEPAY)”, the empowerment project is set to be implemented by the non-government local partner, Akazi Kanoze Access. The project will train youths with different Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) skills hence, preparing them for the job market. It entails the first 50-days preparatory phase including two activities dubbed Work Ready Now(WRN) and Be Your Own Boss(BYB) that aims at equipping the youths with 21st-century skills before they begin their respective courses. “In the first phase, we will engage them in courses that build their working capacities like work readiness, job creation and innovation,” says Anne Marie Ntwali Mukarugambwa, the Acting Executive Director of Akazi Kanoze Access. The targeted groups include people between 16 and 30 years of age who are either teen mothers, in the first and second Ubudehe categories or living with disabilities. Girls are also encouraged to join the programme because they will make up 55 per cent of the programme. Mukarugambwa explains that most of these vulnerable groups need to be first mentally relieved from the weakness they had experienced, to get ready for the courses and the workplace as well. “So, we first need to create confidence in them, make them get out of their comfort zone. From here, they will also be taught some soft skills, like communication skills and personal planning, to name a few”, she added. After this phase, the learners will undergo a career guidance course to be able to choose a specific course they want to enrol in. Plan International will facilitate them to join TVET courses of their choice in different partner schools, at no cost. Apart from the above programs, Armel Mugenzi, the program manager of this project, says that they will also work with those who had made the step in job creation. “We also plan to support those doing casual labour, donate start-up capital to others and empower those who have already started,” he said, citing that after schooling, they will be provided with job opportunities. “We have already dealt with 75 schools that will provide internship opportunities to our students and other microfinance institutions which are ready to facilitate those with outstanding projects and provide them with enough seed capital,” noted Mugenzi. The SDEPAY project will commence in three districts--Gatsibo, Nyaruguru and Bugesera. The beneficiary youths will be selected by grassroots authorities and undergo certain exams to qualify for the program. The first cohort will train 400 students whereas the second will enrol 750 youths. William Mutero, the Country Director of Plan International Rwanda, emphasised that the specific youth focus issues today are persistent in unemployment, and hence this project comes at the right time. “This project comes in at a relevant time when the whole world is struggling with youth’s employability, if half of the world’s youths are unemployed, then it means, we have to take resounding measures to address that,” he commented.
