The Ernest Bai Koroma University of Science & Technology's Career Advisory & Placement Services(CAPS) partners with NAYCOM and Lattanzio Advisory Present Career Guidance & Job-Readiness Programme
Youth Skills Development For Entrepreneurship and Employment Project (YSDEEP)
The government of Sierra Leone has mobilised resources from the African Development Bank to implement Sierra Leone Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment Project. This project will build on the foundation laid by the YEEP and will consist of
a) Skills Development for Employment,
b) Career Guidance and Job Readiness and
c) the Graduate internship Programme which was one of the strategic areas implemented through the YEEP.
The service for the project is delivered through a consortium involving LATTANZIO Advisory, Fondazione Glacomo Brodolini (FGB) and AVSI.
The Youth Skills Development For Entrepreneurship and Employment Project (YSDEEP), the present technical offer aims to reinforce the employability of Sierra Leonean Youth as well as their entrepreneurship skills, by means of an integrated system associating Education and Vocational institutions with the job market demands and supply. Such approach will result in the strengthening of the occupational levels in such population segment, ultimately triggering a sustained economic development because of their growing weight in the population.
OBJECTIVES OF THE CAREER GUIDANCE AND JOB READINESS PROGRAM (COMPONENT 2)
The project will ensure, among other things, the implementation of activities under three components, with Component 2 focusing on a career guidance and job readiness program that will build on the creation and development of trainings and manuals as one of its objectives. Other objectives under Component 2 of the project include:
a) 30 counsellors will be trained, generating an impact for
b) around 2,400 young people involved in pilot counselling programs.
OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSE OF THE TRAINING MANUAL
This manual is intended for career guidance and job readiness counselors in tertiary instituions and colleges to empower them to provide support services to students that will prepare them both to find suitable employment and to stay employed. The planned support provided by counselors will help students to prioritize what types of career they would like to have in the future. Thinking about careers at young age helps students to acquire the necessary skills and experience they need in order to have a satisfying career and fulfill their potential, rather than just finding themselves in a job for which they have little motivation and little chance of promotion.
Target Groups: This manual has been developed for many different kinds of youth including those who are still in school as well as those who are about to leave or have already left (out-of-school youth). It is recommended, however, that counselors focus on students in the higher educational levels because the students are those most likely to leave school and soon enter the workforce. However, the services provided can be of use and interest to all students in school as well as youth who have already left school. We hope young people can become more forward thinking in their aspirations for their future career and become more aware of the types of work, which would suit them.
KEY STAKEHOLDERS IN COMPONENT 2
The spirit of the project is not to reinvent the will but to promote integration so that stakeholders may have a buy-in into the project. Thus, the career guidance and job readiness program will be implemented in collaboration with key stakeholders with capacity in the subject matter. Coordination has been done with the identified stakeholders with extensive consultations to collaborate on structure of approach, delivery of trainings and implementation of activities. This Training Manual is therefore be developed in partnership with training institutions from Freetown, Bo, Kenema and Makeni, while selection of participants will involve the input of NAYCOM and the training institutions.
Training institutions identified during inception include:
• CAPS – Fourah Bay College, Freetown
• CAPS – Njala University College, Bo
• CAPS – Makeni
• CAPS – Kenema
• GTI Kissy
• MMCET – Milton Margai campus, Freetown
• SOS Children’s Villages, Freetown