Friday May 17, 2019
Faduma Yussuf speaks during the UN-Habitat supported job fair in Bosaso, Puntland, Somalia
Berbera, Bosaso and Mogadishu, March 2019, Berbera, Bosaso and Mogadishu – Over 100 young men and women secured employment during job fairs organized by UN-Habitat’s Youth Employment Somalia (YES) programme in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu, Berbera in Somaliland and Bosaso in Puntland.
Speaking during the launch in Bosaso, the city’s deputy mayor Abdisalam Bashir said: “young people should take the opportunity and acknowledge that they should start with internships to get hands on work experience and maximize that opportunity.”
Fadumo Yusuf from Bosaso said: “I am happy I secured a job with Puntland Youth and Social Development Association; the job fair has helped me shape my career.”
In his opening remarks in Berbera, the representative from Somaliland’s Ministry of Employment, Social affairs and Family (MESAF) Cawaale Mohamed Muuse said called on youth to “take advantage of the opportunity of meeting employers and showcase their skills and capacity to give employers strong reasons to hire them. ”
One beneficiary Mohamed Jama said: “I didn’t know what opportunities were available out there. As a fresh graduate, I was happy to hear about the job fair and I got the opportunity to go through interview which was an eye opener for me, I believe this kind of job fairs will give opportunities to many young men and women in Somaliland just like me.”
The Joint Programme on Youth Employment in Somalia recognizes the centrality of youth in fostering stability and the interventions are designed to generate opportunities for young people that will serve as positive alternatives. UN-Habitat’s work within the Joint Programme focuses on enhancing the longer-term employability of youth through basic literacy, numeracy, life-skills, vocational and business training in sectors with high growth and employment potential.
Through the job fairs, 400 young men and women were connected to 75 local employers for potential job placement after successful completion of skills development training in the three cities and in total 119 secured employment.