Learning new skills gives young people the chance to build a more prosperous future at home in Somaliland

By Jamal Abdi Sarman, UNICEF Somalia Communication Officer.

HARGEISA, Somaliland 27 May 2019 – By the time he was 18 years old, Abdirahman Mohamed had twice attempted to start the long and dangerous journey to Europe, leaving his home in Somaliland and aiming to travel through the Sahara Desert, North Africa and then finally crossing the Mediterranean in search of a better life.

Both times, however, Abdirahman was stopped at the Ethiopian border by Immigration officials and held for questioning, before being returned to his home town. Disheartened, semi-literate and from a humble background, he couldn’t see any opportunities for the future at home.

“I dropped out of school when I was in class eight and about 13 years old. My family, who were struggling to get by tried to help me return to school, but I kept on refusing, and later ran away from home,” he tells me. “I wanted to migrate to Italy via Libya, but each time I was nabbed at the Somaliland border by immigration officials and returned to Hargeisa. I felt hopeless and faced a bleak future.”

For many young Somalis, even the stories of the dangers and risks associated with the “Taahrib” – the local name for the custom of migrating north with the aim of reaching Europe and the imagined opportunities it holds – are not enough to discourage them.

Years of conflict, poverty, recurrent drought and high levels of unemployment mean for many young people leaving their homeland in search of education, jobs and a better standard of life feels like the only option.

For Abdirahman, a life-line came when he was given the opportunity to enroll at a Skills Training Centre run by GAVO, a local organisation supported by UNICEF and the UK Aid from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DfID.) The centre provides young people with the opportunity to learn various trades in line with the Ministry of Education-certified vocational skills curriculum.

“I was lucky since I was approached and enrolled at this center where I have been learning plumbing for the last five-and-a-half months now. I will complete my course in two weeks’ time,” he explains to me. “My life now has a meaning and I can see myself engaged in meaningful work to earn an income and build my future. I finally don’t feel like I have to migrate for a better life.”

“Since the inception of the Children on the Move Program we have enrolled sixty students, 29 of who are girls and 31 boys,” explains Abdirashid Yassin, the centre coordinator. “We hope to have 300-500 students in the future. The girls are taught marketable skills such as tie and die and tailoring while the boys learn plumbing.

“We’re already seeing the results,” Abdirashid tells me. “We have found industrial attachments for the boys and have set up a market for the products produced by the students, they have already made an income, with each girl receiving an average of $300 since they started the course.” 

Another young person benefitting from new-found skills is eighteen-year-old Najah Abdikadir. Najah was unable to enroll in school and was another young person harboring the desire to migrate but like Abdirahman, the programme has granted her a new lease of life.

“I enrolled when I was 17, and before because I wasn’t able to attend school I wasn’t hopeful of a bright future. I thought my future will be grim and on several occasions the idea of migrating to other countries came to mind,” she stated.

But her time at the centre have proved to Najah that she can make it in her homeland. “I’ll finish my course in a few weeks’ time; I’ve been making clothes and with the help of center we’ve set up a market, and already made an income. I’ll be earning an income to support myself and family, and so I no longer think of leaving,” she confidently stated.

The centre is part of the Children on the Move Project, funded by UK Aid and implemented by UNICEF under the Child Protection Programme in Somaliland and Puntland. The main focus of the project is to strengthen multi-sectoral prevention and response to violence, abuse and exploitation of children on the move’ and this includes all vulnerable children and those at risk.

The formal skills training offered by the Center is a proven way of helping young Somali people from disadvantaged backgrounds to overcome the disadvantages they may experience and to become active contributors to the development of their communities and society.

The programme also aims to ensure children and young people don’t have to look abroad to see the possibility of opportunities and a better future. Children and young people benefitting from the programme include survivors of gender-based-violence, migration returnees, children in conflict with the law and youths from the host community.

Link to original story.