Empower Youths Through Computer Skills Training

In response to the desperate need for youth empowerment, this project is continuing to focus on the development of the skills level of youths with the goal of enabling them to seek and gain employment in both the formal and informal sectors in Sierra Leone. Here is a brief report about the training in basic computer skills that your donated funds helped to provide. Training was offered in partnership with Aid Sierra Leone.

Training Report from the Field: The training which was started on the 28th of July 2010 went on successfully, and came to an end on Friday the 27th of August 2010. In all, (13) thirteen people including staff of Aid SL received trained. These trainees came from various youth groups as well as the university. The theme of the training was “Improving your IT Skill”. It took place at a well renowned computer training institute Ambai Computer Training centre - which offers excellent professional computer training.

Most of the beneficiaries had little or no computer experience. To them this was a "great opportunity" as one of them stated. Also for those who had had some previous computer knowledge, this was a very fruitful opportunity as it has helped improved their skills even more.

Certification: At the completion of the training, certificates were awarded to the trainees. Five programs were covered in depth: Microsoft Windows, MS Words, MS Access, MS Excel and MS PowerPoint. A total of 13 participants received individual and group coaching / training.

Delivering a statement, the National Coordinator Mr. Andrew Daramy expressed thanks and appreciation first to Develop Africa and GlobalGiving for providing the funds for the training and also to the trainees for the interactive time they all have spent together. He further reminded the trainees how important IT could be. These days he stated, IT is crucial to the majority of businesses. Almost all companies use IT to some extent, making it important for employees to have proficient knowledge in the area.

Having good IT skills gives you a major advantage over those who do not. Even if a role is not an IT job per se, IT knowledge may give you an advantage over other candidates and help you once you are employed. Employees are expected to know the basics of IT in most jobs and there is an assumption that you are able to perform basic computer related tasks he continued.

Most admin tasks in any business are now performed through the use of IT and for the large part the traditional numerous filing cabinets are gone he told them. Accounting is usually done with spreadsheets, so accounting staff also need knowledge of IT. Even those working in shops and restaurant will use IT in certain ways, such as the teller / tills. Anyone working in management in any job will need to be able to use computers to either a small or large extend, depending on the nature of their particular job.

With IT playing such an important role in business today, good IT training, either in education or once in employment, can make an important difference. IT is there to make life easier, but if you do not have the necessary confidence it can turn into a nightmare Mr. Daramy warned. Staff need to understand the processes they are using, and this requires sufficient training.

Testimonies were giving by some of the trainees expressing their happiness and how they expect the training to benefit them. They asked Andrew to pass on their thanks and gratitude to Globalgiving and Develop Africa donors and Aid Sierra Leone, for giving them the training opportunity of their dreams.

Closing Comments: Thanks donors for your donations that helped make this empowering opportunity possible! Their lives will never be the same again and a wider door of opportunity is now open before them. We welcome your on-going support as we plan another session for additional participants in the coming months.

Cordially and best wishes.