Manager calls for ‘youth only’ department

Youth & Careers

THE deputy manager for the Urban Youth Development Project which is currently underway in  the National Capital District says the new government should create a department for youth alone.
Dr Mathias Liu said the existing Department of Religion, Youth and Community Development has other functions and paid little attention to affairs of youths.
“The focus may not be specific in one area, but these people (youth) which make up a good portion of the country’s population should be given significance,” Liu said.
“I think there should be a lot more emphasis placed in that because they are the future of our country.”
Liu said the bulk of the youth population in the urban areas were unskilled and tended to create problems in their communities but they could contribute to the country’s economy, if they were empowered in the informal sector.
“Unskilled urban youth, in my opinion, can be categorised as the smallest unit and least powerful but are viewed by common people as the most destructive to the country’s economy and social wellbeing,” he said.
Liu said these unskilled youths were part of the informal sector which needed greater attention from the government.
He said other countries in the world have lots of programmes to help youths.
“If you go to India they have programmes that are concentrated on their youths to up skill them and to find employment for them,”Liu said.
“Places like Taiwan and Philippines for example, they have programmes too, that help their youths.
“Our unskilled youths belong to informal sector and that is the sector that I think the government should pour a bit of money into to make it attractive, especially in the cities and main urban areas.”