Boosting youth employability

Youth employment is crucial for the socio- economic development of any nation, and no nation can afford to give a deaf year to the threats posed by youth unemployment.

It is, therefore, imperative that governments and development partners, the private sector and civil society generally intensify their efforts in creating more job opportunities for youth.

Key to addressing youth unemployment is by training our youth entrepreneurship skills and initiating micro-finance schemes to boost their employability.

Youth unemployment poses a serious threat to world peace, thus the need to address it.

Statistics have shown that today about 17 million people across the world are unemployed, most of whom are young people.

Its challenges can only be addressed adequately through effective government-private sector partnership.

Economic empowerment of young people should be a priority for the government, today more than ever before.

The dangers about serious unemployment in a country can be seen in an increase the crime rate, dependency and this can even discourage prospective investors to invest in a country.

Since no government can single handedly create employment for all its citizens, it is therefore key for the governments to partner with the private sector and CSOs to create more sustainable livelihoods for youth.

We wish to use this opportunity to congratulate the Gambia YMCA for organizing a national youth employment summit, currently underway in Banjul.

Over the years, The Gambia YMCA has created employment opportunities and provided skills training to hundreds of young people in the country, thanks to its BLF UK project.

 Their contribution towards realizing Vision 2020 and the MDGs is in the right direction, and is in line with the government’s development agenda.

No government should ignore the issues of youth employment, since they are the backbone of any nation.