1,500 Republic of Congo youths to undergo special skills training

The Republic of Congo's Skills Development for Employability Project (PDCE) kicked off on Monday in Brazzaville, with the recruitment of about 1,500 vulnerable youths who will undergo training in various skills to increase their financial independence, an official source said.

The project aims to improve the job and entrepreneurship skills for vulnerable urban youths aged between 16 to 30, to improve their labor market insertion and earnings.

Funded jointly by the Congolese government and the World Bank to the tune of 16 billion CFA Francs (over 25 million U.S. dollars), PDCE will offer vulnerable youths in Pointe Noire and Brazzaville special training in carpentry, welding, baking, mechanic, electrical maintenance, plumbing, agricultural transformation and in other domains within the next five years.

PDCE coordinator Michel Mouanga said registration of candidates within this age group will be done in each district of the two biggest cities, where professional centers and workshops have been set up for the training purposes.

Beyond training youths who did not go to school, PDCE policy equally targets providing technical skills to youths running small and medium size enterprises.

Despite the good economic performance witnessed in the Republic of Congo in recent years, the level of unemployment, especially among the youth, remains very high.

Official statistics dating back to 2012 showed that 25 percent of the Congolese population aged between 15 to 29 years were jobless, and 42 percent of the same age group had given up hope of finding a job. Endit