Building skills for out of school adolescents and youth

Phuentsholing, Bhutan, 5 June 2018 - About 30 adolescents and youth in Phuentsholing town, who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), gathered at the Youth Center this week to take part in the district’s first-ever capacity development workshop.

The five-day training, organized by the Youth Center Division, Ministry of Education with support from Thromde Administration and UNICEF, is to empower out-of-school adolescents and youth to harness opportunities to reach their full potential.

During the training programme, youth participants will meet and interact with focal points in various relevant agencies such as labour and human resources, local businesses and training institutes. They would be oriented with life skills, communication and networking skills, and understand youth issues in the community. They will also be connected with potential employers through targeted sessions on entrepreneurship, vocational and employment schemes.

“The aim is to reach out to the most vulnerable adolescents and youth, and to understand their needs,” said Karma Chogyal, manager of Phuentsholing youth center.  “We want to allow these adolescents and youth to connect with themselves, to share information and to enable relevant agencies to increase their engagement with these adolescents and youth.”

Similar trainings will be conducted in other youth centers across the country.

In 2018, youth centers across the country embarked on a youth mapping exercise in their communities. The survey was conducted to find out the population of youth in the community and to reach out to the out-of-school and vulnerable adolescents and youth.

In this regard, Phuentsholing Youth Center had conducted their youth community mapping survey exercise in March this year with support from UNICEF and the Phuentsholing Thromde administration. The survey was carried out by 12 youth volunteers and 3 Youth Centre officials. The sample for the youth mapping exercise covered five youth hotspots in core areas within Phuentsholing and around the Indian border town, Jaigaon, where many Bhutanese youth also reside.

Through the survey, the stakeholders could find out what some of the youth related issues were, their expectations, checked the visibility of the youth center facilities, accessibility of the youth engagement facilities and on how to overcome the youth related issues on a priority basis. About 250 youth who were not in education, employment and training were identified.

“We hope to not only enhance the soft skills of the youth but link them with prospective training institutions, employers and financial institutions with the expectation that some of them get enrolled in training institutions, some find employment while some start businesses of their own,” said, Rinzin Wangmo, Chief of Youth Center Division, Department of Youth and Sports. “Adolescents and youth cut across numerous sectors hence it is imperative that agencies working for and with youth collaborate and support each other.”

Bhutan has a young population: more than half of the Bhutanese are below 25 years.

According to the Representative of UNICEF Bhutan, Rudolf Schwenk, adolescence is recognised as a ‘second window of opportunity’ to build on and increase the gains achieved during the first decade of a child’s life (0-10 years). “I believe that it is critical to listen and respond to the voices of young people. They need support to optimally develop their potential and transition successfully to adult roles and responsibilities,” he said. “Investing in adolescents is also critical from a demographic, economic and social development perspectives,” he said.

The Representative also said that adolescents and youth are an immense source of ideas and innovation that needs to be harnessed effectively, and if given the right engagement opportunities, they can make a huge difference to their own lives and become change makers in their communities.

Meanwhile, the capacity training workshop this week is designed to:

• Strengthen engagement with young people to understand their needs and expectations
• Build the capacity of youth to become better job seekers
• Linking the youth with potential employers
• Empower youth with life/soft skills to increase their job prospects
• Understand youth issues in the community and guidance through exploration of SELF
• Inspire and promote self-love, self-esteem and motivation
• Develop life/soft skills, healthy coping skills, and decision-making skills

Here are some of the expected outcome from the training programme:

• Strengthened engagement with young people to understand their needs and expectations
• Empower young people with information on employment, skills and opportunities
• More support from Employers/Organizations/NGOs/Private Companies and provide jobs after linking with the NEET
• Focus Group with NEET young people has provided positive role models and a change in working practice
• Greater local awareness between service providers and NEET youth

Better understanding about the so called NEET and extend scope of Integrated Youth Support Service to NEET.