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COMESA Council adopts Internship Programme to facilitate youth employment

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Lusaka, Zambia, July 16 (Infosplusgabon) - The Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Council of Ministers, meeting ahead of the COMESA Summit, has adopted a Youth Internship Volunteer Programme to facilitate youth employment.

 

Under the Programme, graduates from tertiary institutions in the COMESA region are now expected to be absorbed into employment much faster.

 

According to a statement issued by COMESA in Lusaka Monday, the Programme, which was adopted by the 38th meeting of Council of Ministers held from 14 -15 July, 2018, in Lusaka, Zambia, seeks to increase youth employment, particularly for young women and men graduates who join the labour market every year. It was developed in collaboration with the United Nations Volunteers.

 

The Council meeting was attended by Ministers and their representatives from DR Congo; Egypt; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Eswatini (formerly Swaziland); Kenya; Libya; Madagascar; Malawi; Mauritius; Rwanda; Seychelles; Sudan; Uganda; Zambia; and Zimbabwe.

 

The Youth Internship and Volunteers programme is expected to raise youth employability through practical skills. It is also expected to provide job opportunities (in key economic sectors) through the provision of information and facilitation of networks and resolve the mismatch between labour market demands and the supply of qualified personnel from institutions of higher education.

 

“According to the United Nations, 226 million youth, aged 15-24, lived in Africa in 2015, representing almost 20% of the continent’s population. This represents one-fifth of the world’s youth population. It presents a huge opportunity for the programme to empower the continent’s youthful population and enhance their contribution towards economic development,” the statement noted.

 

In its decision, the Council urged Member States, through Ministries responsible for youth, to facilitate the implementation of the Youth Internship and Volunteer Programme.

 

In line with chapter 25 of the COMESA Treaty, which focuses on development and utilisation of human resources, the newly-adopted programme will include, among other aspects, training and skills development of the youth.

 

COMESA disclosed that the Programme will be piloted in four countries: Comoros, Egypt, Ethiopia, and Zambia, before replication to other member States and secretariat has been directed to engage more development partners to support the programme to enable coverage of more Member States.

 

In Comoros, the priority areas are: the establishment of a national internship and volunteer programme mechanism; partnership building with the private sector and Small and Medium Enterprises for the placements; awareness creation and mobilization of the youth; and institutionalizing the volunteer and internship programme

 

In Egypt, the programme will focus on the establishment of a national internship and volunteer programme mechanism, partnership with the private sector and development of labour market policies that will facilitate the provision of labour market information on internship standards and opportunities.

 

In addition, it is targeted to develop a national coordination structure and placement of young graduates, especially women, in the social enterprises and other identified priority social sectors.

 

In Ethiopia, the focus will be on development and operationalising a government-led youth internship programme in partnership with the private sector and other relevant stakeholders. This is in addition to the development of policy and regulatory operational frameworks to guide implementation, strengthening existing internship/apprenticeship programmes, and developing and operationalising a volunteer corps.

 

In Zambia, the priority areas for the programme are: development and operationalising a government-led youth internship programme in partnership with the private sector and other relevant stakeholders; creation of feedback links between the labour market and education and training institutions for the creation on labour needs-relevant curricula, and development of a national volunteer corps that responds to the placement of young graduates, especially women, in priority sector programmes particularly in the Small and Medium Enterprise like in the ICT sector.

 

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/AED/GABON 2018

 

 

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