The focus of the National Service Scheme (NSS) is to become an employable agency that will create job opportunities for the youth in the country, the Executive Director, Osei Assibey Antwi, has said.
According to him, it is the aim of the current management of the Scheme to roll out more innovative programmes to ensure that personnel will be in gainful and viable employment after their service.
He noted that the programmes, among others, would equip beneficiaries with the requisite skills to create their own enterprises after their service each year.
Mr Antwi stressed the new focus of the NSS emanated from the fact that statistics showed a rather staggering number of service persons add up to the unemployed numbers each year.
“Per our records, only 24 percent of National Service Personnel reliably find jobs while a whole 76 percent end up jobless at the end of each service year, so we are using these programmes to work on the numbers to turn the figures around.”
He made this known when delivering a speech at the 2021/22 La Dade-Kotopon Municipality National Service Personnel Association (NASPA) elections and orientation at Burma Camp in Accra.
He explained the newly introduced initiatives included Pathways to Sustainable Employment (PaSE) Project Ghana Tech Lab (GTL).
Through this initiative, he disclosed 600 personnel are currently being trained in mobile apps and websites building skills; Venture Building Program (NSS and University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA).
The module will help groom 91 Service Personnel with entrepreneurship skills throughout the service year and GNSS/Ghana Export Promotion Authority, which is training 63 personnel in entrepreneurship and other skills required to create products and services which can be exported outside Ghana.
Other modules include GNSS/Ghana Enterprises Agency, a program training National Service Personnel in entrepreneurship and providing support in various business fields in the country; the Stanbic Graduate Transition Support Program (GTSP).
This is currently providing a sustainable financial support system for National Service Personnel in the areas of financial literacy and business development; the NSS-GTA Support program.
Under this, 677 personnel have been deployed to support the development of tourism in the country.
Others are; Youth in Greenhouse Enterprise Project, which is training National service personnel in the agri-business field and the NSS Construction and Housing Project which is training Personnel to embark on the construction of real estate housing.
He emphasised the initiatives, which are currently running as pilot programmes would be run as fully operational modules with an increased number of personnel intakes by the beginning of the next service year.
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“The PaSE project which is currently training 600 personnel in the development of mobile applications and websites will be expanded to train 20,000 personnel by the beginning of next service year,” he explained.
He said the programs were created on the back of careful and in-depth research on the current industry demands that require skillset to propel growth and optimum income.
“All these programs have been introduced to solve problems; we didn’t just create them but we did research and found the problems and we are providing the solutions”, he emphasised.
Mr Osei Assibey Antwi further urged service Personnel to exhibit good traits in order to uphold the name of the Scheme.
“You are all ambassadors of the Scheme and as such, you have a big responsibility to be respectful to authorities, be time conscious and hardworking because it is only by these traits that you can be recommended to businesses and at the same time project and protect the good name of National Service Scheme,” he stressed.