Youths encouraged on hard work

 

The Minister of Youth and ICT, Jean Philbert Nsengimana has urged Rwandan youths to embrace the culture of saving, hard work and formation of cooperatives in order to improve their standard of living.

The minister made the remarks during the official launching of the 2013 youth month which took place in Kabaya sector, Ngororero district in Western Province, on May 4, under the theme: “The Promise of a generation.”

The main goal of this month is to celebrate the achievements so far made within the sector while focusing on the key issues facing young people but also create a platform for youth advocacy and a clear strategy for youth to be able to meaningfully contribute to nation building especially focusing on the role of youth to build the society.

Minister Nsengimana argued that the youth need to be more of job creators who need to start with available resources within their reach, and those who do not have the ability to start a business should join the Kuremera program and Hanga umurimo program-in which communities and government chip in to finance income generating activities respectively.

The month’s activities will range from those in line with economic empowerment, social contribution, and the use of ICT as a tool for development as well as activities related to sports and entertainment

As part of the agenda, Isamaza youth cooperative were given two computers, a 32inch TV screen and a decoder courtesy of Star Africa media- a Chinese multimedia company in Rwanda. The equipments will be used to generate income for the youth cooperative- which is mainly composed of genocide survivors in Kabaya.

One of the youth in Ngororero District, Eugene Nzanywayinshuti, 26 is a farmer who is  are confident that through working hard to produce more one can improve their welfare and contribute to the economy which largely depends on agriculture.

“I cultivate maize, potatoes and I buy lands where I’ll extend my activities, now I saved more than 1 million Rwandan francs, now I urge my brothers and sisters to work hard and I’m sure they’ll get a result.”

In Vision 2020, Rwanda’s long-term socioeconomic development agenda, it is envisaged that a critical mass of viable SMEs will create 3.2 million off-farm Jobs by 2020.  Incidentally, unemployment is one of the biggest challenges Rwanda is facing today.

The youth population between 14-35 years old is 4, 159,000, among them 70.2% are working and 26.3% are students. About 65% of the youth work less than 35hours per week and this is a proxy to time related to underemployment. It is also estimated that 1.4% are unemployed and the unemployment is high in Kigali city with 4.8% for men and 10% for female.