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Gambia & Ghana in joint youth development venture
Monday, 27 September 2010 12:37
By Kemo ChamDozens of Gambian youth will benefit from a collaboration between Gambia and Ghana in what is closest indication yet of friendly ties between the two countries after recent problems.
The National Youth Employment Program (NYEP) in Ghana, in collaboration with its Gambian counterpart, the Gambia Priority Employment Programme (GAMJOBS), established a deal that will see 70 Gambian youths undergo training in mobile phone repairs, electronics and computing.
Under a partnership between Ghana’s National Youth Employment Program and an indigenous ICT firm in the country, RLG Communications, Ghanaian youth undergo training in mobile phone repair and assembling as part of their effort in stemming youth unemployment.
A visit by officials of the Gambian side in October 2009 resulted in the birth of a collaboration between GAMJOBS and Ghana’s NYEP. As part of this collaboration, ten beneficiaries of the NYEP’s ICT module, who were qualified as trainers, would be sent to the Gambia this October to train seventy Gambian youth on a pilot basis. Depending on the successful completion of this pilot project, it is envisaged that a total of 2000 Gambian youth will in turn be trained.
RLG Communications is partnering with a Gambia based private telecommunications company, Unique Solutions.
"We are happy that the Gambia has seen the usefulness of this model and is collaborating with the government of Ghana to replicate it in their country", Ghana’s Deputy Minister of Youth and Sports, Nii Nortey Dua, said at a press conference in Ghana on Friday.
"NYEP and for that matter the Government of Ghana is always prepared to collaborate with other member states in the sub region to successfully implement such time-tested policies in their respective jurisdictions," he added.
Ghana’s National Youth Employment Program has a number of opportunities on offer for its youths, among them the Youth in film industry, the Youth in bamboo processing and the Youth in dress making and ICT modules.
Calling on his country’s youth to take full advantage of the various “attractive modules” being offered, Deputy Minister Dua praised the Gambian authorities for taking “a giant step” in partnering with the NYEP to roll out the ICT module for the benefit of Gambian youth.
Ghana’s Minister of Communications, Haruna Iddrisu, said the collaboration between Ghana, RLG and Gambia would enrich their relationships and promotes development.
Chief Executive Officer of RLG Communications, Roland Agambiri, said his company plans to deliver quality and specialized training in applied ICT in mobile phone assembling and computers for at least 15,000 young men and women in Ghana for the next five years. He added that a similar concept is envisaged for Gambian youths as part of a greater drive to reach across the entire African continent.
The mobile phone industry has become a lucrative business in the region. In Gambia, lack of a much needed skills among indigenous Gambians means that there is a heavy reliance on expertise from neighboring Senegal for mobile phone repairs. A successful completion of such training opportunities for Gambian youth will not only cut down on cost for the average Gambian, but it will also lessen problems often associated with total reliance on foreign expertise.
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