Over
one-million-dalasi Germany-based Ten Brinke Foundation sponsored electricity
training faculty project has been lunched at Siffoe village on Friday, by Young
People Without Borders (YPWB); a youth-led community-based organisation.
The
project targets to close the non-skills gap among young people in the country
and to prepare them with life-skills that can benefit them anywhere they travel
to round the world.
Facilitated
by Gambia Rural Poor Association (GamRuPA) Europe, the electricity faculty will
provide skills training to young people in the field of electrical wiring and
other skills that can prepare them for the future. The facility has classrooms
and an office, a hall and another classroom preserved for plumbing training.
Chairperson
and founder of Young People Without Borders, Kalifa Kanteh, said the
realisation of the project is in their quest for young people to be prepared
with ready skills wherever they are, saying many young people travelled outside
of the Gambia without any skill which usually pose challenges to them.
“We
agree that traveling is a basic human right but what we are advocating is for
people to acquire ready skills when they are travelling. We encourage parents to
send their children to the training center,” he said.
He
said within the training center, they have other training faculties including
tailoring, hairdressing, welding and joinery and carpentry.
According
to him, the projects targets to ease the travel burden on students to
institutions like GTTI to acquire skills training, saying travel cost is one
thing on many students while having a guardian is another.
He
thanked Gambia Rural Poor Association (GamRuPA) Europe for creating the
connection for them and Ten Brinke Foundation in Germany for funding the
project.
Ellen
Meuneutenveld, board member of Gambia Rural Poor Association (GamRuPA) Europe,
thnked their partners for the support and called on the people of Siffoe and
the surrounding communities to make the best use of the facility.
Elizbeth
Nienhaas, a member of Ten Brinke Foundation said they support orphanages and
institutions to become self-reliant, saying they provide opportunities to young
people to contribute to the development of their countries.
Chairperson
of Education for All Network, Bakary Badjie, said the project is sample that
will provide life skills to young people, while encouraging parents to send
their children to the training center to acquire skills.
