The tour was also meant to remind the councils of their 10% budget counterpart contributions as per the NYSS Act to the scheme in supporting the programmes that seek to empower young people with livelihood skills.
The delegation from NYSS led by Executive Director, Abass Bah also met with all the sponsored corps members and their Master Craft persons in the regions and completed their stipends and contract payments.
Mustapha Badjie, deputy executive director, NYSS said most of the councils were not forthcoming in payment of their counterpart contribution, adding that the key part of the tour was to remind them of payment and its importance to the scheme and young people.
“The only council that is fully compliant is the Janjanbureh Area Council. They have been honouring the counterpart contribution since. These contributions greatly enhance and help NYSS to recruit more young people into the livelihood skills development programmes and sustain the programme,” he said.
He said they also informed the council of NYSS’s planned graduation for the current batches on the Apprenticeship Training Programme (ATP) and main skills training programme following the completion of their two-year skills training.
The apprenticeship Training programme, according to Mr Badjie targets out-of-school young people, Madrasa students and other young people without any educational background.
“These groups of young people need to be supported if not majority of them may become liabilities in society. “Giving them livelihood skills will help them become an asset to their families and the society as a whole,” he said.
“We also have a graduate program that we launched sometime this year targeting young graduates from the University of The Gambia. Our programmes covered all categories of young people, from out-of-school youth to the ones who stop at grade 9 to 12 and the ones who completed university education,” he said.
He stresses his office's commitment and readiness to empower Gambian young people with livelihood skills for a better Gambia. “If you want to empower young people we should give them something that can serve them for their entire life span. The best way to curb migration is giving the young people livelihood skills,” he said.
He also acknowledged the great support provided by The Gambia government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports in the overall funding of the programmes.
He expressed hope for an increase in funding from government complemented by Area Councils and other development agencies.
Deputy Executive Director Badjie on behalf of the NYSS Management thanked the Regional Governors, Chairperson and Mayors of Area Councils, Master-craft persons and Corp Members for their commitment in skills development for the youth in this country, while assuring them that the NYSS will ensure that their programmes would be accessible to many youth who are in need of skills for employment.
Source: Ministry of Youth and Sports
Media & Communication Unit
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