Odilah Willie and Damaris Finaka are part of the skill training and capacity development course facilitated by the EU Funded UN Joint STREIT PNG Programme.
Odilah from Banak in the Wewak District, and Damaris from Yangoru-Saussia, were waiting to pay their way back to their studies when this training opportunity landed in their hands.
Odilah said: “I was not able to complete my year 12 studies because of school fee problems and I see this as a good chance for me.”
Damaris Finaka added: “I’m happy to become a role model for other girls to see and follow with the belief that road works is not a job for men only.” Damaris is looking forward to complete her Diploma Studies at the University of Papua New Guinea.
Led by the International Labour Organization (ILO) in partnership with by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Centre in Wewak, the training aims to promote decent work employment for rural youth and women who lack in-demand practical qualifications in the area.
This ILO-led training was also an opportunity for other graduate participants to build on their competencies and plan to impart their newly acquired knowledge and skills to villager fellows. One was Job Yawi, an enthusiast participant who had completed grade 12 studies and had been in the village for 10 years.
“I want to say thank you to this programme to attend this course. I will go and train others as well in the village,” Job said.
The participants were mostly grade 10- and 12-leavers who missed out on opportunities to further their studies. They were selected from 89 applicants who applied from all districts of East Sepik Province.
“This kind of practical training will transfer the skills to young people that will help them to link in the job market for better-paid employment in future,” said Shailendra Kumar Jha, Chief Technical Advisor of ILO EU-STREIT PNG.
“Additionally, the TVET centre will be able to organise similar training with the training materials developed with support from ILO,” said Arun Kumar Yadav, ILO’s International Training Engineer for E- STREIT PNG.
The training is the first of five batches to be conducted this year for a target of 150 trainees from East Sepik and Sandaun provinces.
