Rwanda, Dutch firm ink deal to boost job creation

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Rwanda has signed a cooperation agreement with a Dutch company aims at creating employment opportunities for about 4,000 young Rwandans.

Jamal Randle, from left, Loren Cowling, and Dave Jackson fill out applications for positions at a new bar and restaurant in Detroit, Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
Jamal Randle, from left, Loren Cowling, and Dave Jackson fill out applications for positions at a new bar and restaurant in Detroit, Sept. 25, 2009. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

The deal that was inked on Tuesday by Rwanda’s ministry of youth and ICT and Netherlands Development Organization (SNV) lays a strong foundation for job creation in the small Central African nation.
The joint venture dubbed “Opportunities for Youth Employment” (OYE) project, will be implemented by SNV funded by MasterCard Foundation. The OYE project is a regional program that is targeting to create employment for Rwandan youth for a period of more than five years (2014-2018).
Speaking to reporters shortly after the signing ceremony, Jean Philbert Nsengimana, minister of Youth and ICT said Rwanda commits to facilitate youth create jobs rather than job seekers.
“We have geared up efforts to tackle youth unemployment by working with various partners; this agreement will be assisting us to do several activities at a go, primarily to protect our environment and creating jobs for youth – which are both important pillars of Rwanda’s sustainable development strategy,” he said.
Nsengimana stated that the partnership will boost the livelihoods of young people by creating employment and self- employment opportunities particularly in the renewable energy sector.
The objective is to create employment for 4,000 Rwandan young men and women and to establish 70 new youth-led renewable energy enterprises within the next 5 years.
According to the ministry, SNV is also supporting the capacity of 40 Youth in ICT application in the coffee sector including promotion of specially designed mobile application and smart phones for collecting and uploading the voices of 10,000 smallholder coffee farmers.
“We are happy to work with Rwanda by contributing to the economic development and poverty reduction,” said Phomolo Maphosa SNV Rwanda Country Director.
She noted that the company is proud to equip young people with skills to take charge of their own development through promising careers in sustainable renewable energy sector where employment opportunities are emerging.
According to the agreement employment focus for Rwanda will be mainly within Biogas and Improved Cooking Stoves (ICS) and related sectors such as briquette production and biogas slurry, pico-hydro and in the solar sector.
The employment projections are based on the expected growth of the various sectors and associated labor requirements as per the development plans of the country.
Rwanda through Business Development Fund (BDF), a local financial organization has moved to ease access to finance for youth and women entrepreneurs seeking to start small and medium enterprises.
BDF guarantees credit for SMEs up to 75 percent.
The post Genocide country’s unemployment rate is currently at 3 percent, according to figures from the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda.
The government’s five-year development plan, the second Economic Development and Poverty Reduction Strategy (EDPRSII), seeks to engage Rwandans in productivity by creating at least 1.8 million new off-farm jobs over the next five years. Enditem

Source: Xinhua

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