By Shari Raji | Program Manager, Employment Accelerator Program
Our Employment Accelerator program is a platform in SMART Liberia’s Changemakers Village that aims to create a local workforce for the emerging Liberian economy. This program resulted from a survey we conducted with a select group of local companies through which we found that these companies are reluctant to hire local graduates because they generally lack computer literacy, the ability to use productivity tools such as Google Suite and MS Office, etc. As such, through tailored training in entrepreneurship and leadership, computer literacy, and exposure to productivity tools such as google suite, asana, slack, etc, we will develop a pipeline of young people who have the technical, social, and critical thinking skills for a changing local/global economy. After the two-month training is complete, we will match them with job opportunities through an online job portal.
During the GlobalGiving March Accelerator, the project, “Job Training and Placement for 10,000 Liberian Youth,” raised $5,421 USD from 61 donors and we are incredibly grateful for your generosity. The funds disbursement was finalized last week (May 31, 2019) and the process of using your donations to implement change is underway.
Our team is currently doing publicity for the program through our University Tour and will use Social Media as well. Recruitment of the first cohort of 20 students that will be trained with invaluable skills needed to thrive in the workforce will commence on June 17, 2019. The computers needed to do the training are currently being purchased and the training space is about 90% complete. The online portal that will be used for our job matching is being designed and is expected to be completed by the end of June. Our team is also forging partnerships with organizations who will hire our trained fellows thereby providing them with qualified employees at a cheaper, less time consuming and stressful rate, and lowering the unemployment rate in the country.
The donations received from you is invaluable in the work we are doing to lower the unemployment rate in Liberia. With all the plans that are currently underway, we are projecting to launch the training of the first cohort by July 22, 2019.
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