Equipping women with employable skills is vital to leapfrog the economy and foster for improved livelihoods for all citizens, Carolyn Turk the World Bank country representative for Rwanda has said
Accordingly, women have been key in the production sector mainly in agriculture as well as in small and micro businesses which are seen as source of incomes for most households thus providing them with skills will further strengthen the sector.
“ promoting skills among adolescent girls and young women who are the mothers of the future generation plays an important role in the economic development of the country, develops confidence in them and take control of their lives as well of their children,” she said during the graduation of over 500 adolescent girls and young women trained in Culinary Art, Agri-Business, Food Processing, Art and Crafts.
The graduates are part are the first cohort of the Adolescent Girls Initiative (AGI), a component operating under Work Force Development Authority-WDA supported by a Multi-Donor Trust Fund from the World Bank.
“This program aims at promoting skills among adolescent girls and young women to generate income to ensure that they can be self-reliant,” Henrietta Umulisa, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Gender and Family Promotion stressed
Liberata Uwera who completed in Food processing from one of the AGI centers in Gicumbi district testified how she earns Rwf60, 000 per month out of selling milk products.
Accordingly, project is a real transformation for many vulnerable adolescent girls and young women who lacked employable skills. The next two cohorts of 1400 students will graduate in December 2014.
Jerome Gasana the Director General at WDA notes that promoting skills among the vulnerable groups will help spearhead equitable growth and development which will result into better livelihoods as they would be able to produce quality products that would compete both on local and international markets.
“We believe that TVET skills is the only way we can reach our targets of transforming our country to a middle income economy, once we have our own skills, we expect our workforce to increase production, add value to our products for export,” he said.
He said that the Authority is planning to extend the training to other districts so that it covers the vulnerable young women and adolescent girls in rural areas who have been facing challenges of earning an income.
