Cabo Delgado: Displaced students ask that job promotion initiatives are better disseminated

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Cabo Delgado: Displaced students ask that job promotion initiatives are better disseminated

4:42 CAT | 08 Jun 2022

File photo: Lusa

Students displaced by the actions of armed groups in the Mozambican province of Cabo Delgado on Friday (03-06) asked the government for better information about youth self-employment projects.

“They must publicise them more, in the media, so that we know how to join. That would help the province in general – especially young people from districts affected by terrorism,” 17-year-old Issa Machude told Lusa.

A 12th grade student at Pemba Secondary School, Machute, was speaking on the sidelines of a lecture in Pemba, the provincial capital, attended by the provincial director of Youth and Employment, Maria Carrilho.

At issue are initiatives developed by the government and its partners and aimed at the younger age groups in the face of the unemployment and lack of opportunities indicated by some observers as among the causes underlying the recruitment of young people into the rebel groups.

For Alberto Mané, another displaced young man who studies at Escola Secundária de Pemba, initiatives to tackle unemployment are fundamental for young people, who have had few options.

“I, for example, do not know any of the programmes that exist for young people,” Mané said.

Provincial Director of Youth and Employment, Maria Carrilho, acknowledges that most displaced youth are unaware of the programs, but reiterates that the government has been working to create opportunities for this segment of Cabo Delgado’s population.

“The Secretariat of State has been carrying out several programs, such as Meu Emprego, Fundo de Apoio à Iniciativas Juvenis, Prémio Jovem Criativo and others. It is true that they do not know about these programmes, but that is why we are here to spread the word,” Carrilho said.

Cabo Delgado province, in northern Mozambique, is rich in natural gas, but has been terrorized since 2017 by armed rebels, with some attacks claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), about 784,000 persons have been internally displaced by the conflict, which has killed about 4,000, according to the ACLED conflict registry project.

Since July 2021, an offensive by government troops, with the support of Rwandan and later Southern African Development Community (SADC) troops, has recovered a number of areas from rebel control, but their flight has led to new attacks in districts through which they have passed or taken up temporary refuge.

Source: Lusa