The Mabati Technical Training Institute participated in a one week long training organized by the USAID Empowered youth program. The training program committed to ensure that TVET trainees and graduates are supported and linked to self-employment and job opportunities. High rate of unemployment is one of the major concerns of many youth leaving tertiary institutions. One of the challenges facing these youth is lack of job readiness skills and sometimes a mismatch between their education and the job market.
In efforts to strengthen employability among young people, USAID Empowered Youth program is aimed to create awareness on the role of career development activities in enhancing youth employability in TVETs, building institutional capacity of higher education institutions to offer career advisory services and developing mentorship platforms for students. Connecting alumni with youth-serving systems was also of great importance. The training was to embed results of the Labour Market Assessment in their programs and network with different stakeholders to increase opportunities for job and employment linkages.
The training modules were quite intensive, laying emphasis on the provision of soft skills for trainees and providing market information on viable career pathways, work readiness trainings and opportunities to collaborate with the private sector. This could be through internships and industrial visits and mentorship.
Setting up a career guidance office would therefore be one of our biggest priorities in the coming year, where our trainees will have access to career advising, career guidance and coaching. This will enable them make informed decisions as they will understand different career pathways. It will also lead to career progression as the institution will be able to match skills with opportunities in the market.
The Mabati Technical Training Institute has established a committee whose mandate is to equip trainees with job readiness skills by facilitating job placement, linkages with the relevant industries, academic advisory services, student exchange programs, mentorship services among others. A database for graduate tracking services has also been set up to ensure that trainees transitioning from Mabati Technical Institute are supported after graduating.
We hope that many training institutions like ours will take advantage of the resources provided by USAID Empowered Youth Program to support many youth to transition to employment and address the challenges that many youth graduating from TVET institutions face after training.
