25,000 of the nation’s youth benefitted from training

─ 126 young people employed through the Department of Youth’s training course

DPI, Guyana, Tuesday, April 2, 2019

The Ministry of Presidency’s Department of Social Cohesion, which also has responsibility for Youth, has enhanced the skills and capacity of 25,000 young people through training programmes, with 126 finding direct employment from the activities.

The department’s 2018 report revealed that out of an estimated allocation of $784M, approximately 92 per cent or 110 of a projected 120 planned activities for the year, were completed.

These exercises saw youth socio-economic development improved and empowered to make a difference in the development of the country.

Practical and Life Skills Training

As part of the department’s effort, 12,000 of the nation’s youth were equipped with the relevant knowledge and skills to attain employment, become entrepreneurs and establish youth groups. The areas covered included Business Studies, Electrical Installation, Welding and Fabrication, Textile design, carpentry, cosmetology, Agro Processing, Music, Robotics, Financial Literacy and small business Training, Heavy Duty Training, Apiculture Training, and leather craft with the inclusion of life skills sessions like Edutainment, Peer Education, club meetings, community meetings and mentorship sessions.

This was made possible through collaboration with the Board of Industrial Training (BIT) and other training agencies.

Entrepreneurship

Budgeted in 2018, for $70M, was the Youth Innovation Project (YIoP) aimed to provide the youth with the opportunity to create innovative solutions to address community problems while becoming their own bosses and creating employment for others.

Of the 271 registrations submitted, 169 proposals were submitted for grant funding under the programme; 30 young people from Regions 1-10 were awarded grants totalling $45M for 2018 while 20 grants amounting to $40M were awarded for 2017.

Inaugural Guyana Youth Business Summit – a component of the YIoP saw 130 young people participating last year while eleven young people were selected to receive grant funding for innovative business start-up grants valued $9M.

It was highlighted that 126 young people are currently employed through various training programmes. The breakdown is as follow:

–    Night School Programme- 42 Teachers

–    Literacy and Numeracy- 29 Trainee Educators

–    Literacy and Numeracy- 7 Monitor and Evaluation Officers

–    Early Childhood Development-48 persons

Early Childhood Development Training –Thirteen (13) persons were given scholarships at the University of Guyana (UG) to develop themselves in Early Childhood Development.

Financial Literacy and Small Business Training – In 2018, ten modules were completed with a total of 101 young people have been trained in this regard, with approximately 10% of them owning their own business.

Neola Damon.

Image: The Department of Public Information.