The Uganda Graduate Volunteer Scheme, a project aimed at equipping youth with the relevant career skills was launched yesterday at Imperial Royale Hotel under the theme "Enhancing Employability".
For many young graduates, the period of transitioning from school to work can be very challenging especially when employers prefer human resource with working experience and workable skills. This program comes to bridge that gap as graduates will be provided with a full-on job package which includes coaching, mentorship, role models among others which will help to enhance their skills, strengthen their enterprise competitiveness and competencies for employability.
The Uganda Graduate Volunteer Scheme is spearheaded the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) in partnership with the Government of Uganda, through its arm of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development.
Speaking at the launch, the Ministry of Gender/Labour Permanent Secretary, Pius Bigirimana said that the future of Uganda lies in the hands of those in employment and how productive they are at work and therefore they saw a need of equipping the youth with necessary skills and training to ensure effective productivity.
" This scheme is going to impact hands on skills to graduates and it should be noted that the future prospects of Uganda depends ultimately on the number of person in employment and how productive they are at work." Bigirimana said in part of his speech.
The Scheme will target Ugandan graduates between he ages of 18-35 years in all regions of the country and it will accommodate over 500 graduates every year where 10% of those are expected to be graduates with disabilities. The successful candidates will then be placed in both government and private sector entities across the sectors of Agriculture, Finance and Banking, Tourism and hospitality, Information Communication and Technology, Infrastructure development, education, social development among others.
Interested parties are encouraged to apply via www.gvsugand.org