By Saio Marrah
The Societas Socialise, which is a Latin word for Socially Responsible Society (SOS’s), a non-governmental organization has on Wednesday 14th April 2021 launched its YouthCan! Project with the theme “Youth Empowerment for Self-Reliance”.
Piot Benoit, SOS International Director of Region (IDR) West, Central, and North Africa, said the only way one can succeed in life more compared to the other person that has the same academic qualification as you is one’s behavior and with knowledge on soft skills. He said with soft skill, one can make a difference in his/her career and they are there to provide that for them.
He said that in 2020, YouthCan programmes have reached 6,500 young people in 37 countries. He said following the global launch of YouthCan in South Africa in 2017, SOS Children’s Villages Sierra Leone is the 4th out of 21 countries in the West, Central and North Africa (WCNA) region to be selected as a YouthCan project beneficiary.
In his keynote address at the lunch, Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed Bangura, said that youths are exploited by bad politicians, bad governance, and bad policies.
He added that governance is not only limited to central government affairs but bad cooperate governance, bad family governance, bad policies flowing from cooperate governance to that of the homes.
“It is my humble the belief that the young people of this nation have suffered a lot. They are the ones to be exploited by bad politicians, bad governance, and bad policies,” he said.
However, the Minister said that with the support from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and other partners, the ministry has developed the National Youth Policy of 2020 to 2025.
He said it is a ground breaking policy that is aimed at cutting edge around gender-based violence, private-sector approach to solve youth-related challenges, substance abuse, youth-related violence, and the establishment of referral pathways for the young people of Sierra Leone. He said the policy is aimed at intervening in youth entrepreneurship and empowerment.
He said the primary role of SOS is to provide parental care for those that have lost it and those that are at risk of losing it, as well as to provide education for the young people.
He encouraged young people to start thinking to be productive and also take ownership of their future as they are the leaders of today and not tomorrow.
Speaking at the launch of the project, Sallieu Brima, Programme Development Manager-YouthCan Project said SOS Children’s Village has been in operations since 1949 and that they started operation in Sierra Leone in 1974. He said based on the situation in Sierra Leone, they will continue to provide care for children that have been abandoned, those that are orphans and destitute by providing care family-like care, which he called like a mother care setting. He said SOS has operations in Freetown, Bo, and Makeni.
Kai Saffia, is a current youths in the SOS care who said they started taking care of him together with his sister. He said with the support from SOS, he got excellent results in both the National Primary School Examination (NPSE), as well as the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). He said he was able to get the best result in the West African Senior School Examination Certificate (WASSCE) across the country in 2018 and that he now studying pure and applied accounting at Institute of Public Administration and Management (IPAM), University of Sierra Leone.
Another former youth at the SOS children’s Village, Mohamed Mansaray, also narrated his testimony by saying he was born in Kabala when he lost parental care and with support from SOS, he has now established his own business where he has now employed 17 youths, which three of them are SOS youths.
Copyright (c) 2021 Politico Online (16/04/21)
