In an ambitious drive to tackle youth unemployment, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) along with the business leaders and the Sri Lankan Government unveiled ‘YouLead’ , a new employability and skills development project yesterday.
The ‘YouLead’ is a $ 12 million initiative that USAID and its project partners will collaborate for a four -year period to help young Sri Lankans between the ages of 16 and 35 to become more competitive in the labour market.
The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Atul Keshap speaking at the inaugural ceremony stressed the need to train and sharpen the capabilities of the Sri Lankan youth to cater to the demand of both local and international job market.
In addition, the Ambassador underscored the need to support innovation and start-ups culture in Sri Lanka. Citing human talent of Sri Lanka as an inspiring and amazing story to the world, the ambassador reiterated the US government support to develop skills and help realize the dreams and aspirations of local youth.
The ambassador also expressed hope that Sri Lankans could look for a bright future despite all the suffering, trauma experienced by them over the last two -three decades.“We will fully invest in the success of the Sri Lankan people and project like ‘You Lead’ would help Sri Lankans contribute to the greater happiness and prosperity of the economy.
We want to see Sri Lanka as a truly democratic, prosperous, happy and reconciled country in the future.” While stressing the need to better prepare the youth for employment opportunities arising from burgeoning tourism sector, which alone requires another 300,000 workforce by 2020, as well as construction and Maritime sector, he said that it was high time to take proactive measures to take these industries growth to the next level by addressing the acute labour shortage in these respective industries. Noting that youth as the future of the country, he emphasised that 70% of unemployed people in Sri Lanka are youth aged between 15-29.
Echoing the same sentiments expressed by the ambassador, the Minister of Skills Development and Vocational Training Chandima Weerakkody said Sri Lanka’s biggest challenge as of now is the issue of youth unemployment.
“We have already taken measures introduce school curriculum to match the existing and future talent on par with the international job market demand.Through these initiatives, it is intended to reduce the gap between employer and employee and we believe that it is high time to take speedy
actions to attract youth into potential sectors like tourism, construction and maritime.
Speaking on women unemployment in Sri Lanka, the Minister claimed that women participation in tourism sector accounts for 9 % and the same situation applies to the women representation in the parliament.
“Women are prevented from joining tourism sector due to Sri Lankan thinking.” The ‘YouLead’, will also engage the private sector and the Ministry of Skills Development and Vocational Training on skills, knowledge, and capacity-building activities that aim to increase youth employability and sustainable self-employment.
“YouLead” regional focus is on the provinces with the highest youth unemployment, Sabaragamuwa, Central, Southern and Northern Provinces. The project also aims to foster increased opportunities for self-employment by improving the skills of young entrepreneurs and working with financial institutions to encourage more lending to youth-led start-ups. Given the substantial number of unemployed women and their 35 percent workforce participation rate, “YouLead” will encourage more women to enter the workforce and take up in-demand careers.
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