Scores of Guyanese youths will benefit from a virtual job readiness camp aimed at preparing them for employment and leadership in the modern world through a partnership with ExxonMobil Guyana and the Specialists in Sustained Youth Development and Research (SSYDR) Inc.
According to a press release from ExxonMobil, ‘Employment Attack 102’ targets 150 participants from secondary schools within Regions 2, 3, 4, 6, and 10. SSYDR Founder and Executive Director, Magda Fiona Wills said that the initiative is aimed at reducing poverty and its negative impacts among the Guyanese youth population.
“Helping one child can change the faith of a family, a community and a nation. The potential transformation from engaging 450 youth is unimaginable,” she said.
Approximately 300 youth have benefitted from this camp from the onset, coming from across regions 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 10. Wills explained that the programme was prompted by the fact that youth represent the largest majority of the unemployed in Guyana.
‘Employment Attack 102’ has two components: coaching towards livelihood opportunities and work ready training. As such, participants are assigned coaches and together they develop an ‘Individual Livelihood Plan’ which allows them to identify short and long-term goals and to map out the process of achieving these goals.
Concurrently, participants will also be exposed to seven modules for work readiness: personal development, interpersonal communication, work habits and conduct, leadership and teamwork, safety and health at work, rights and responsibilities of workers and employers and financial fitness over a one-month period.
“Employment Attack 102 is exactly the type of transformative programme that ExxonMobil Guyana seeks to support,” said Community Relations Manager, Suzanne De Abreu.“The future of Guyana’s development is heavily dependent on the ability of our young people to become job ready and position themselves well in the job market place.”
Meanwhile, participants will have the use of smart phones and data plans to facilitate online training. SSYDR Inc has partnered with GTT for subsidized data plans that will allow youth to have uninterrupted online learning.
