(Abuja, Nigeria)-In its bid to effectively implement the Community Services, Women and Youth Employment (CSWYE) programme of the Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment programme (SURE-P). The project has trained State Implementation Officers of the CSWYE on how to drive the project at the grassroots level.
The 37 Information and Communication Officers were drawn from across the 36 States of the Federation, including FCT. The three-day training programme, held at the new Keffi hotels, Nasarawa State.
The Theme of the workshop organized by the Federal Ministry of Finance Project Implementation Unit of SURE-P was “Engaging Communications for an Effective CSWYE Service Delivery”
In declaring the workshop open Mr. Peter Papka the National Project Director, stated that youth unemployment is one of the greatest challenges of the millennium not only in Nigeria, Africa and globally. The employment concerns for us are reflected in unemployment, underemployment, worsening poverty with good number of the youths being discouraged.
Mr. Papka Said that the interest of government is to build the capacity of the Nigerian Youth, who he said, are the pillars of today.
“Our youths of today are the pillars of this country, I don’t know of tomorrow, but they are the pillars of today, because whatever you make of the youth today is the reflection of our tomorrow.”
“So, it behoves on all of us to find ways and means to build the capacity of the youths in the sectors that would drive the economy” he stressed.
Also speaking the DFID Communication’s Advisor on the project, Mrs. Mary Ikoku said that communication is critical to the success of the CSWYE under the SURE-P, and as such the State Information Officers who are closer to the communities do require proper and adequate training to enable them communicate effectively to the locals.
She expressed satisfaction at the degree of involvement of the participants, stressing that they were good ambassadors. Mrs. Ikoku further urged them to return with the zeal by putting into practice their workshop experiences.
The workshop focused on communication strategies, modern day challenges of the media and the effective reportage of the project activities. The forum provided opportunities of interactions and ideas sharing on how to ensure that the various programmes under the CSWYE project are successfully implemented and fully communicated to Nigerians.
The two main components of the project are Community Services Scheme (CSS) and Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS).
In their reactions some of the participants spoken to at the end of the workshop praised the CSWYE, Facilitators and Resource persons for bringing them into the 21st century media practice and avowed to take practical steps on return to their various states.
Addressing the participants the CSWYE Project Director, Mr. Peter Papka, revealed that the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) is one of the vehicles that would drive the implementation of CSWYE, hence the training programme. “We want to build the capacity of our State Implementers to make them more effective”. NDE is one of the platforms for driving this project. We expect that at the end of the process (training programme) all of you would have a clear understanding of what this project is all about and how to drive it”, he said.
Resource persons for the workshop were drawn from both the Public and Private sectors of the media.
