Sierra Leone: In an attempt to empower youths in Sierra Leone, the SOS Children’s Village in collaboration with their partners have on Wednesday 14th April 2021 launched the “Youth Can” project at the Radisson Blu Hotel in Aberdeen.
The project is one of the core programme areas for SOS in Sierra Leone, implemented to: support disadvantaged young people to prepare for the labour market; increase their employment prospects; and become self-reliant and contributing members of society.
In her opening remarks, SOS Country Director Sophie Ndong said the best place for kids to grow up is with their families, but for some reasons, when children don’t have nobody to look after them, they exist to provide and care for such children.
She said having being in existence for over 70 years, if people want to assess SOS’s impact, they must look at the children. According to Youth Can Project Coordinator Mr Farma, the project is geared towards solving the enormous challenges faced by youths in the country, especially those with SOS background, and those outside such remit.
He said the objective of the initiative is to strengthen the employability of young people and create global and local networks to tackle employment by proving mentorship, training and practice, as the three projects’ key pillars. He said the project is locally owned and has multi-dimensional approaches.
The SOS International Director of Regional West, Central and North Africa, Benoit Piot, thanked the youth and partners for making the occasion a reality. He said 1.8 billion people between the ages of 10 and 24 are young, with Africa accounting for 400 million youths between 15 and 25 years old.
He said it is their duty to focus on the youth and provide them with the necessary platforms to realise their full potentials. Mr Piot said the youth are at their crossroads, where they must make sound decisions to transform their lives. Last year, they supported 6,500 youths whose condition was not fair, but noted that they had to make it fair.
Giving the keynote address, the Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed Orman Bangura, said SOS is close to his heart, being a well-established organisation in the world that provides shelter and education to vulnerable kids.
“It is believed that the young people of this nation have suffered a lot and it is time to change the narrative,” said Minister Bangura, adding that education is the key for youth development, and called on the fortunate youth to take full ownership of the project.
After his speech, together with the SOS Regional Director, the minister officially launched the ‘Youth Can’ project. SOS Children’s Village is an international nongovernmental organisation founded in 1949, operating in 136 countries with 40,000 staff, and 70 years of experience in supporting children who have either lost parental care or are at risk of losing it.
Meanwhile, other speakers also made meaningful contributions at the launch.