The Vice President, Alhaji Dr Mahammud Bawumia will next Wednesday launch four new initiatives introduced by the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) in Accra.
The initiatives which are intended to create sustainable employment are; The Job Centre, Artisan Directory, Agric-based Flagship Programme and the Work Abroad Programme.
Addressing the media in Accra yesterday, Mr Pius Enam Hadzide, Deputy Minister of Information explained that, the Job Centre would serve as a platform that would link up potential job seekers with employers directly.
He said there is the need for a job centre more than ever due to the fact that there were a number of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) which by their sizes and capacities, did not advertise their job openings, thus making it difficult for most prospective employees to factor them into their job search activities.
Mr Hadzide said government over the last three years had being working hard to ensure that, much more job opportunities were created to cater for the teeming unemployed youth of the country.
He said the Job Centre among other things, would go a long way to compliment other government initiatives in creating more job avenues for the youth.
Similarly, he explained that the artisan directory would train the youth in the artisanal sector to sharpen their skills in the services they offered.
“Artisanal Directory is a centre that will train and set up artisans (beauticians, masons, carpenters, fashion designers etc),” he emphasised.
Mr Hadzide said the skills training to be offered by the directory would prepare the beneficiaries to make them accessible through the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT).
On the agric-based programme, he explained that it was an initiative which would be undertaken in all 16 regions and districts taking into cognisance the natural resource endowment and comparative advantages of each region and district.
These flagship programmes under the agric-based would include maize farms, fish farms, smock village, cassava plantain etc.
The fourth initiative which was the Work Abroad programme was to enable the country export part of its human capital to other countries as a means of not only reducing unemployment but also rake in some foreign exchange for the country.
By Cliff Ekuful
