Vocational skills transform mindsets of jobless South Sudanese
Some 598 youth who recently acquired critical skills at Multi-Purpose Training Center (MTC) are beaming with smiles and hope for a better future in South Sudan.
Steven Akera, a 20-year- old resident of Jebel Yesua in Juba, is among these hundreds of graduands.
Akera is now a proud plumber who after completing his secondary education in 2020 had no job due to a lack of practical skills to compete in the job market.
But now he is ready to apply the technical skills to enable him to start a new career path.
“I decided to join training in plumbing, right now I am done I will go out and look for a job. I want to work with some companies so that I gain more knowledge and experience and after that, I will have my own business,” Akera told The Juba Echo on Monday after the graduation ceremony held in Juba.
“My message to people outside there is they should not just roam the streets, instead of playing cards and domino on the roadside they should look for training centres so that they get more knowledge,” he said.
This technical and vocational training which saw 207 females graduate with vital skills was supported by the National Ministry of Labor together with the Kingdom of Netherlands and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Dorris Anzoa Robert, 21 is now able to drive a vehicle after concluding training at MTC.
She said her driving skills will help her find job opportunities.
“I have been attending driving training I will now go and find a job that will help me, the reason why I went for driving is that it is lucrative,” Robert said.
“My message to my sisters is that there is vocational training being done for free, if you are sitting idle you can come and do the training,” she said.
Jan Huesken, the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherland in South Sudan, said that the demand for skills development in South Sudan is credible.
Adding that vocational training will enable young people to establish their own businesses.
“The demand for training of women and boys is credible, all training programs need to be maintained to make sure young people are trained while on the job to enable them to establish their own companies,” Huesken said.
James Hoth Mai, the Minister for Labor, said that the government in collaboration with development partners have trained more than 10,000 youth in the past three years.
“With this training, I am sure these young people will not engage in war, we will work to make sure that most young people get skills instead of becoming job seekers they become job creators,” Mai said.
