The MozYouth internship programme held a graduation ceremony for 120 interns in Maputo this Thursday, 17 August, to mark their completion six months after they started.
According to the programme’s press release, the ceremony was attended by 172 trainees, 120 of whom completed the course this week, and also served to formally launch the MozYouth Foundation, dedicated to promoting the employability of young people and women, helping them in the transition from apprenticeship to employment.
“Since 2018, this programme has helped thousands of young people face their challenges through internship and training programmes with the aim of preparing them for the workplace,” reads the statement.
The programme has supported a total of 172 young people, including 82 women and 90 men, of whom 47 have yet to complete their internships and 76 have already secured employment. The trainees received support from the Irish Embassy in Mozambique, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
Launch of the MozYouth Foundation
On the same occasion, the MozYouth Foundation was formally launched. Its aim will be to provide a sustainable, long-term platform that will enable the continuation and expansion of the programme that has helped thousands of young people make an easy transition between the education system and their first job.
The statement said that MozParks created the internship programme and is also supporting the creation of the MozYouth Foundation as an organisation dedicated to supporting the employability of young people and women, which will operate at a national level, in all types of industry, providing the necessary support to young people.
According to the Secretary of State for Youth and Employment, Oswaldo Petersburgo, “this event symbolises the importance of a common cause: increasing the employability of young Mozambicans. Given the dynamics of the labour market, which is increasingly demanding and highly competitive, entering the labour market via a professional internship has been a positive differential in achieving this goal.”
The MozYouth Foundation has the support of the leaders of some of Mozambique’s companies, the three founding members being Adrian Frey – CEO of MozParks, Peter Blenkinsop – managing director of FNB Mozambique, and Henri Mittermeyer – CEO of Hollard Mozambique. There are also two other board members: Agnaldo Laice – managing director of Twigg Exploration & Mining and Christian Roeder – managing director of DP World, Maputo.
The president of the MozYouth Foundation, Adrian Frey, stressed that “the MozYouth Employment Programme will continue to be the vehicle for training, employability and the development of entrepreneurs for young people in Mozambique, and invited the private sector and national and international partners to be part of the programme”.
For his part, the managing director of FNB Mozambique, Peter Blenkinsop, said: “This initiative is extremely relevant to the economic life of Mozambique, as we need high-quality skills and we all have a responsibility to empower future generations.”
Also at the same ceremony, Henri Mittermayer, CEO of Hollard Moçambique Seguros, commented that “the MozYouth foundation is the essence of Hollard Moçambique Seguros’ purpose, to create and enable better futures for people and businesses in Mozambique. Today we witness the transformative impact that MozYouth brings to our country by creating paid internship opportunities for young people and facilitating their entry into a labour market that emphasises experience.”
“I want to thank the founding members, FNB, Hollard and MozParks, who came together to create the MozYouth foundation, which is a bridge to job creation for young Mozambicans,” concluded MozParks’ managing director, Onório Manuel.
