For information only - not an official document
UNIS/OUS/133
7 March 2012
Japan to support youth employment in Guinea by funding USD 3 million UNIDO project
CONAKRY, 7 March 2012 - Japan will fund a United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) project worth Yen 234 million (around USD 3 million) which aims to train young people in Guinea on new practical skills that will help them find jobs.
An agreement on this was signed in Conakry today by UNIDO Representative in the country Bafotigui Sako and the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Guinea, Naotsugu Nakano.
The immediate beneficiaries of the UNIDO project will be some 4,000 young people and 50 entrepreneurial groups in Forest Guinea (Yomou, Lola, Gouecke, Beyla, Gueckedou), Upper Guinea (Siguiri, Kouroussa, Mandiana, and Kankan), and Middle Guinea, specifically in Mamou.
The project will cover a total of ten districts in Eastern Guinea, on the border with Liberia, Cote d'Ivoire and Mali, as well as in Mamou, which borders with Sierra Leone. The selected communities have been affected in the past years by natural hazards, conflicts and refugee influx.
Through training courses, organized by UNIDO, the young people will acquire entrepreneurial and technical skills suitable for productive activities, income generation and employment opportunities, which will allow them to build a new life.
UNIDO Representative Bafotigui Sako thanked the Government of Japan for its support, adding that the new project was designed to address a number of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including poverty reduction through more stable and higher-yielding income-generating activities, environmental sustainability, and gender equality.
From 2005 to 2011, UNIDO implemented a project that helped develop community-based production centres and upgrade skills of some 6,500 people, including refugees and returnees in Forest Guinea. It was funded by the UN Trust Fund for Human Security and UNIDO.
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For more information on the project, please contact:
Bafotigui
Sako
UNIDO Representative in Guinea
E-mail: office.guinea[at]unido.org
