Sierra Leone unveils employment plan
FREETOWN - Sierra Leone has unveiled a multi-million-dollar scheme aimed at creating some 13,000 new jobs for young people.
The United Nations-funded employment generation scheme was formally launched by Youth Minister Dennis Bright and seeks to create jobs in small and medium-sized industries.
“The project is aimed at developing entrepreneurship training and business support services and organising support for youth businesses provided through start-up capital,” said the government’s director of youth, Anthony Koroma.
The United Nations (UN) has set aside 35 million dollars for peace building in the tiny west African nation ravaged by a decade-long civil war that claimed between 100,000 and 200,000 lives and officially ended in 2002.
Of the total funding, nine million dollars is destined for youth empowerment.
The war-ravaged country, ranked by the UN as the world’s second poorest, goes to the polls on August 11 to choose a new president and lawmakers.
Political violence has marred the election campaign, seen by many as a test of the nation’s chances of definitively turning its back on its brutal civil war.