This week, officials from the Government of Liberia and the United States Agency for International Development’s (USAID) Liberia Mission are in Rwanda to visit and learn from the successes of the Akazi Kanoze Youth Livelihoods Program – an initiative supported by the USAID Mission in Rwanda. The study tour will take place from February 25-28.
The six-member delegation includes: Hon. Hawa Goll-Kotchi, Liberian Deputy Minister of Instructions; Hon. Saah Charles N’Tow, Liberian Deputy Minister of Youth Services; Hon. Charles Gaye, Liberian Assistant Minister of TVET; Owen Dunbar, Institutional Capacity Development Team Lead, USAID/Liberia Advancing Youth Project; Denise Clarke, Deputy Chief of Party, USAID/Liberia Advancing Youth Project; and Mardea Nyumah, Education Specialist, USAID/Liberia.
Like Rwanda, the Liberian Government with support from USAID, has been actively promoting youth workforce development efforts and their link to basic education.
USAID’s Akazi Kanoze project, is part of these efforts in Rwanda, and has had remarkable success training young people with hands-on vocational skills as well as the intangible, but incredibly important, work-readiness skills such as time management and leadership.
Thus far, nearly 12,500 youth have graduated from the Akazi Kanoze program. Among the completers, over 7,500 youth pursued further education and nearly 6,300 youth have accessed a new economic opportunity (paid internship, employment or self-employment).
The delegation has come to Rwanda to see the Akazi Kanoze program first-hand, with the objectives of understanding successful strategies for linking vocational education with workforce development for youth; identifying effective systems to deliver quality youth-centered development services; discover strategies for building private sector partnerships for youth programming; and identifying necessary factors for building sustainability and scale for youth projects.
During their stay, the delegation will meet with the Ministry of Youth and ICT, the project’s other public sector partners including the Rwanda Development Board and the Workforce Development Agency, private companies, technical and vocational schools, local youth-serving organizations, and program graduates themselves.
“We’re very pleased and proud to continue our collaboration with the Government of Liberia to increase the capability of the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Youth and Sports and other key stakeholders to support and manage youth-centered Alternative Basic Education programs in Liberia with efficiency, effectiveness and equity” said Melanie Sany, Chief of Party of the Akazi Kanoze program.
“We believe that the lessons learned from the Rwandan experience will help inform Liberian efforts to provide education and livelihoods opportunities for youth.” she continued.
Launched in 2009, the Akazi Kanoze Youth Livelihoods Program, is a five-year USAID-funded project implemented by Education Development Center.
It provides Rwandan youth with the necessary tools and resources to enter into a positive development pathway that will lead to increased lifelong livelihood opportunities. The Program expects to train 16,000 youth by the program’s end.
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