The Graduate Genocide Survivors Association GAERG has embarked on a programme to empower thousands of young survivors of the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi to get employment.

According to the association’s Executive Secretary Fidele Nsengiyaremye, the organization is partnering with the Survivors Fund (SURF) in Youth Economic Empowerment Project (YEEP) to train 850 young survivors in Entrepreneurial skills, work readiness, and vocational training.

“SURF is supporting us to empower 850 young survivors living in Kigali through YEEP for a period of one year but we have engaged several other partners to see that thousands of jobless young survivors across the country can start businesses or get employed,” he said.

Nsengiyaremye said that they are partnering with Harambe Youth Empowerment Accelerator, Digital Opportunity Trust (DOT) Rwanda, and the City of Kigali through the Kigali Empowerment Service Centre.

The Harambe has already received 150 of over 2000 youth survivors to be trained in values of job opportunity application including writing a good Curriculum Vitae and good expression during job interviews.

The training started 18^th November 2021 at Kimisagara Youth Centre in Kigali where it will continue to be held as well as in other parts of the country.

More so, over 450 youths are receiving pieces of training in entrepreneurial skills at YEGO Centre-Rwanda Guides Association Gikondo in Kigali and other sites in Kicukiro Gasabo and Nyarugenge.

Meanwhile, 100 youth survivors are pursuing vocational pieces of training in culinary arts, tailoring, hairdressing, mechanical and driving, welding, baking, culinary art, airport operations, and photography and film making at several companies specialized in TVET.

According to YEEP Programmes Manager Alphonse Nsengimana, job readiness trainees will be supported to receive internship positions in several companies while those pursuing entrepreneurial skills will be helped to access finance.

“We have already entered a partnership with several companies to host our trainees which we hope will expose them to be identified by the employers and be hired or take the experience to other companies where they can be hired,” As well we plan to organize a special job fair, he said.

He added that “those who are getting entrepreneurship training will also be helped to get capital to start businesses that can employ them as well as employing others’’.

A recent survey by GAERG revealed that over 32,000 young survivors are jobless which is a burden to them as they are still challenged by genocide consequences including trauma and other mental health illnesses.

Most of the unemployed survivors are orphans who were kids of 0-8 years in 1994 or have been raised by traumatized single mothers who also need care. It is clear that they lack generic competencies that they should have learned through informal education or even part of their formal education which was not effective as well.

The study followed the 2017 survey by FARG that revealed that nearly 77 percent of young survivors who graduated between 2010-2017 were unemployed and that only 23% had been successful to get employment and changing life. 58% request further assistance in career guidance, and linking with the BDFs for business advisory services, continuous learning assistance, employments, and economic empowerment. This is the challenge that GAERG is hardly working to address to ensure that these young survivors can live healthy life.