Skills for a Successful Future is an educational programme that currently provides 43 financially vulnerable students aged 15-25 years with scholarships for vocational education, employability skills training and personal guidance. Through this programme, students find internships and successfully turn these into long-term employment. Meaningful employment helps students improve their quality of life and that of their family, also becoming role models in their communities.
Throughout their lives, youth in Sierra Leone are neither guided to effectively participate in the job market, nor properly equipped to respond to employers' demands for skills. Many families in Sierra Leone also cannot afford the high costs of tertiary education. Together, this means that young Sierra Leoneans cannot secure and maintain gainful employment. As a result, Sierra Leone has a 70% youth unemployment rate, which causes high poverty and low quality of life amongst youth.
The Skills for a Successful Future programme prepares students for the job market by providing scholarships for vocational education, employability skills training and personal guidance. This comprehensive programme equips students with the professional skills and knowledge needed to secure and sustain meaningful, local employment. As a result, the programme directly contributes to reducing both youth unemployment and poverty in Sierra Leone, while providing students with a brighter future.
Through the programme, 30-40 students (min.) in Sierra Leone access high-quality vocational education every year. The education, skills classes and personal guidance prepare students to meet the demands of the local job market and secure full-time employment. This directly improves their quality of life and helps lift them out of poverty. The programme also teaches students pro-social behaviours, which decrease interpersonal violence and promote gender equality.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
