Planning commences for grand Youth Empowerment Drive

As part of a comprehensive strategy to significantly reduce Guyana’s youth unemployment figures, the Department of Youth has commenced planning for the hosting of a Youth Employment Drive.

On Friday, March 8, 2019, the first planning meeting for this activity was held in the boardroom of the Department of Youth on Middle Street in Georgetown.

This saw the attendance of representatives from Demerara Distillers Limited, Massy Guyana, Unicomer Guyana and the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph Company (GTT), respectively.

Explaining the initiative was the Director of Youth, Melissa Carmichael-Haynes, who noted that while the activity will take the form of a job fair, it is intended to be a lot more impactful.

“We want to go a step beyond the mere sharing of information, to companies actually conducting interviews with our young people as potential candidates to fill whatever vacancies the respective organizations may have,” Carmichael-Haynes explained.

The concept paper for the project further emphasized its intention of “providing a safe space for young people to access all companies and agencies that may have vacancies for employment. It also creates a space for growth, exposure and information sharing.”

“We realise that often times, young people, sometimes just out of school or university, are told that they need experience before they can get certain jobs. We want to be there to fill that gap,” Carmichael-Haynes said.

She explained that the Youth Department will execute employment preparedness programmes to ensure that the youths are able to live up to the standards and expectations of the private sector.

“From the feedback we’ve gotten, we understand that the private sector has some challenges and concerns with employing youths. So, we want to ensure that these youths are well prepared for the world of work,” Carmichael said.

This, she added, will also motivate private companies to take the chance in hiring more and more young people.

In the meantime, preparations are continuing to determine the date, time, and location for the drive. A pre-registration exercise is also being considered to ensure that only youths who are in need of jobs and who are willing to work, benefit.

It should also be noted that the drive serves as a component of the Guyana Youth Service which is expected to soon be launched at the Kuru-Kuru Training Centre with much pomp and ceremony.