On Monday 2 December, the Alberto Cassimo Vocational Training and Labour Studies Institute (IFPELAC) declared its support for expanding the +Employment for Youth project in Cabo Delgado to other regions of Mozambique, arguing that the benefits generated by the initiative ‘should also reach’ other areas of the country.
This position was presented by Teresa Monteiro, head of IFPELAC’s Vocational Training Department, during the final conference of the project’s first phase. Monteiro emphasised that, in order to expand the positive impact of the initiative, it is essential to extend it beyond the northern region to where, in a second phase, the project will be operating over the next few years, namely in Nampula and Niassa.
‘It’s important that, in the next phase, other regions of Mozambique are covered and, why not, in the long term, even looking to the Centre and South, in order to decentralise the opportunities on offer,’ she said.
During the implementation of the first phase, the project trained 95 IFPELAC trainers in areas such as industrial welding, mechanics and automation, equipping them with essential tools to strengthen the vocational training sector. These efforts, according to the same source, reflect ‘a strategy aligned with local needs, promoting qualifications that enable young people to join the labour market and set up their own companies, thus fostering self-employment’.
In addition, IFPELAC stressed the importance of adapting training programmes to the specific realities of each district, in order to ensure greater retention of young people in training and encourage sustainable socio-economic development.
Created in 2020, the +Emprego project, co-funded by the European Union and co-managed by Camões IP, aims to expand economic opportunities in Cabo Delgado province, with a focus on the young population.
The initiative aims to improve access to work and income in sectors directly or indirectly related to the natural gas industry, one of the areas with the greatest potential for economic growth in the country.
