The Youth@Work internship program has just received major support from the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs.
The program that provides training for more than 500 young unemployed people each year has been able to fund the expansion and improvement of its training, especially of the front loading classes of the core program, according to Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) Country Manager Mia Rimon.
“This is a key help coming from the government through the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs. Youth@Work can now add on daily trainings in our resource centre in new areas beyond the existing training budget to reach even more kids,” Mrs Rimon stated.
Ms. Rimon thanked the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs for the contribution towards the program. “We applaud the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs for opening doors for our young people.”
The funds pledged have gone towards improving and expanding the Youth@Work programme’s training component, offering youth who have come through the program more frequent training in new areas, especially focusing on promotion of young entrepreneurs.
“The trainings provided for the recent and current phases of Youth@ Work internship have totally been upgraded and are more detailed.
The quality has shown through the interns themselves; they are more”work-place savvy” and more and more interns are landing permanent jobs. I believe it’s a reflection of the quality of the program due to the support we have had from the Ministry, “said Rodney Samuel, a former intern of the Youth@Work internship program and currently a member of the Youth@Work team.
Youth@Work is a combined effort of the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the Ministry of National Unity, Peace and Reconciliation; The Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Commerce, Industries, Labour and Immigration and the Ministry of Women, Youth, Children and Family Affairs.
It is a long term programme committed to tackling youth unemployment in the Solomon Islands and is funded by Australian Aid. To date, over 1600 youth have been given job internships and extensive training under the programme, with another 1500 youth given entrepreneurial opportunities and training through the popular YOUTH MARKET. For more information contact [email protected]
