Growing economy needs skilled youths |07 November 2011

This is gist of the message that came out of a recent meeting between the Seychelles National Youth Council’s (SNYC) management and Frank Boahene, Human Development Officer of the African Development Bank.

The meeting discussed SNYC’s programmes and projects in place for the capacity building of the Council’s workers and for that of the youths of Seychelles, such as holiday job programmes, organisation of seminars, participation in local and international workshops and conferences, youth entrepreneurship initiatives and advanced education opportunities in youth work, to name but a few.

“The youths are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but the leaders of today.  It is therefore very important that their needs are continuously assessed so that we can respond accordingly and that we give them the appropriate tools so that they can contribute in building our country,” Vicky Van der Weishuizen, SNYC’s chief executive officer (CEO), said.

“Our staff also has to be trained to effectively deal with the merging trends,” Mrs Van der Weishuizen added.

Whilst numerous programmes are in place and partnerships are being strengthened with local and international agencies, she said that the Council is increasing its efforts in order to ensure that the programmes proposed answer the country’s evolving needs.

Mr Boahene appreciated the current efforts made by the SNYC to ensure that the youths are not only trained but are also given practical opportunities to exercise their skills both locally and internationally.

He hailed Seychelles for showing confidence in the abilities of the youths by giving them key posts in the society.

He assured SNYC of AfDB’s continued support skills development with a focus on the technical and vocational areas.

Mr Boahene called for more concerted efforts between the agencies working with youths to ensure efficiency of programmes.

The meeting was part of an ADB delegation’s working visit aimed at supporting Seychelles in the development of a Human Resources Strategy for Economic Growth.

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