At the Graduate Internship Programme (GIP) which started in Freetown, student graduates from different tertiary institutions have commended the UNDP in Sierra Leone and the National Youth Commission (NAYCOM) for according them the opportunity to be agents of change. Held at its headquarters along Bismack Johnson Street in Brookfields, 440 young graduates will for four days receive training in various work place environment skills to empower them for the present day job market.
Human Resource Manager at NAYCOM Mosina Sesay explained that the concept of the NAYCOM/UNDP GIP is to promote decent employment opportunities for the Sierra Leonean youth, which the GIP has been doing for the past 10 years. She added that the GIP is an integral part of the country’s young people’s employment strategy, technically and financially supported by the UNDP and the Government of Sierra Leone.
Mosina Sesay also mentioned that the concept defines a process of career development in which NAYCOM/UNDP as well as placement institutions including MDAs, NGOs, industries come together to offer meaningful career related work experience to graduates while simultaneously providing an excellent source of highly qualified, flexible personnel for both public and private sector employers. Mohamed Mansaray, a graduate in applied accounting from IPAM, told Awoko: “As I approached the completion of my course, I became concerned, because my elder brother became frustrated after finishing university and had no gainful employment due to work inexperience and went from one institution to the other for three years before gaining employment through the GIP. Now that I am fortunate to be part of this training I hope to get the necessary guidance to enable me create a career path, as I am a young and inexperienced graduate.”
He added that hopefully after the training he won’t mind being deployed to any part of the country, noting that it will give him the opportunity to know the country and also meet new friends and know new cultures, “and be an agent of change”.
Cordelia Bickersteth said she studied history and sociology at Fourah Bay College and hoped to acquire new knowledge and skills on how to be better equipped for the work environment. She said the training of “a mixed bag of various disciplines” is an opportunity to interact and form a network that even after the training, contacts will be maintained for future endeavours. NAYCOM Commissioner Ngolo Katta recalled that though the GIP is coming to a close at NAYCOM and has benefited thousands of young people to be trained in work place ethics and discipline, the programme will continue at the National Youth Service, which will provide the same support the commission has provided during the past 10 years.
However, he noted that several other programmes of the commission’s will assist young people become self-reliant and independent. “I feel pleased that each year government with support from UNDP has been able to put smiles and give hope to young people who many a time become frustrated as a result of job hunting, and not getting one due to lack of work experience.”
He added that with the GIP thousands have successfully gone through the training and some have been lucky to gain employment at their job placement institutions, while others gained employment somewhere else earning a decent living. “This is the idea and spirit NAYCOM wants to inculcate in young people in order that they be agents of change and make a difference in their various communities for a better Sierra Leone,” Katta maintained.
By Ade Campbell