A new six million dollar scheme to tackle urban unemployment in Solomon Islands will be introduced in 2010.
The project will be funded by the World Bank together with other development partners and it will be implemented by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Honiara City Council.The Prime Minister Dr Derek Sikua says the special rapid employment project comes as unemployment continues to grow with only a few hundred of the 7-thousand young people who finish school this year likely to find jobs.
The project will seek to provide employment for young people on short term public works programmes, and to teach them work and life skills.
"Not only do we get the advantage for people who are unemployed to gain meaningful employment, not only do we allow for the youth and those people to receive training, but the community in general and the whole of the city gains in infrastructure projects, they'll be concentrating on getting draining and road systems done, but also putting small access roads into the communities," Says the City Council's Chief Executive, Wayne Hart.
He says the project will expand on the council's existing work programmes and could provide employment for about 300 people a day in Honiara alone.
Source: Radio New Zealand International