A child rights’ advocacy organization has launched an internship project for senior secondary school leavers, with particular focus on girls.
Kids Advocacy Network (KAN) is implementing the Post-Secondary School Youth Internship Programme (PSSIP) as part of its Youth Empowerment Strategy which is geared towards providing successful careers for young people in the country.
“The internship programme aims at helping young people that have completed senior secondary schools to select a suitable course of study that will enable them to make a better carrier in future,” Edmond Fornah, KAN’s Executive Director said at the launch of the programme at the secretariat of the All Walks of Life (AWOL) in Freetown, on Wednesday.
The programme will give girls the opportunity to gain professional skills and experiences in intended fields of study, Fornah said. He also said the programme would target more than fifty youths in all districts in the country. But the Executive Director warned that they did not intend to offer permanent jobs.
KAN will hold a training session between the 9th and 10th of October and the programme will begin on the 12th of that month and end in January.
“Participants will leave at the end of the internship in January, next year,” added.
During the three-month engagement, the selected pupils will be sent to several national and international institutions where they will receive mentorship and training.
A representative from the National Union of Sierra Leone Students (NUSS), Michael Mitchell Conteh, commended KAN for the initiative.
He said he believed the post secondary school internship program would help pupils to make a better selection of courses that they might want to study after they would have gained enrolment to study at higher learning institutions.
“I hope government ministries, departments and agencies would open doors for children to develop their capability,” Conteh said.
Conteh encouraged the government of Sierra Leone to support the initiative and ensure its sustainability, noting that the initiative would prevent youth especially girls from being idle after they would have finished exams awaiting results.
In order to qualify, applicants must be between the ages of 18 and 23 years, and must be post-secondary graduates, reads the criteria of the internship programme.
Interested applicants must send an application letter to the Executive Director of Kids Advocacy Network through email: kidsadvocacynetwork2gmail.com or drop it at 85 Fort Street, Freetown.
(C) Politico 30/07/15
