Rwandans will join other countries across the globe in the celebrations to mark the International Youth Day under the theme “Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World.”
The International Youth Day celebrated on August 12th each year seeks to bring Youth issues to the attention of the local,national and international community but also accellerating the potential of youth as partners in today’s society.
Youngsters make up a significant demographic group whose health, mindset and education can help shape the future of our planet.
The United Nations designated International Youth Day as an opportunity to highlight various themes and topics that are relevant to young people, such as education, employment, mental health, human rights, civic engagement, and social inclusion.
Rwanda has the ambitious goal to become an upper-middle-income economy by 2035, a goal that requires investing in industrial skills that meet employers’ demands.
Rwanda has considerable youth unemployment and insufficient access to quality jobs. This is exacerbated by a changing global economy with labor markets evolving at a fast pace.
Over the past five years, the government has run a formidable critical skills program for youth at various educational levels, as part of its 2018 – 2024 National Strategy for Transformation (NST).
This development blueprint covers all sectors in education, aiming to equip the more than 200,000 youth entering the labor market annually with critical productive skills for access to good quality jobs.
Unemployment rate is about 21% for youth, and of those that are employed, about 60% are in jobs typically defined as low productivity, including subsistence agriculture, retail, and construction.
