Opportunities For Youth Employment
SNV Netherlands Development Organisation is applying its tested and proven “Opportunities for Youth Employment (OYE)” Approach to improve the employability and entrepreneurship capabilities of youth, women and returning migrants in three sectors; Agriculture, Renewable Energy, and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).
OYE Approach
The OYE Approach is based on an integrated model that looks at the push and pull factors of employment. It includes providing soft and technical skills training for youth, women and returning migrants; creating and expanding market opportunities and linkages for green start-ups and Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs); and connecting job seekers to (self-)employment opportunities. OYE also serves as a match maker by supplying the right skills for the labour market. Under OYE, GrEEn facilitates internships and job placements, hosting interactive and expert-led green job fairs and supporting start-ups through ideation and business plan competitions.
The OYE Approach Diagram
About Push (Employability)
To prepare service recipients adequately and effectively for the world of work, they should be capacitated in the areas of basic entrepreneurship, transferable skills and leadership. This is what the push factor of OYE accomplishes by build the capacities of service recipients. Seasoned local service providers are resourced by SNV to conduct these capacity building sessions. With this unique training, service recipients are well guided through basic and advance level training and are ultimately positioned to make informed decisions on their preferred employment pathway; either employability or entrepreneurship’, in some occurrences, both. Market scans are conducted periodically to identify sub-sectors in Agriculture, Renewable energy and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sphere to direct trainees to available employment opportunities in the green sector; factoring in their aspirations and interests. A result of these market scans is the creation of green value-chain fora. Identified value chains are documented and shared with stakeholders for validation. These are then integrated into the OYE advance level training to positively influence the career decisions of service recipients.
About Match (Market Linkages)
Local service providers have the expertise and technical know-how in the identified sectors of agriculture, renewable energy and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) services and products provision. Thus, they are most suitable in conducting basic and advance level training, creating a fine print of the match component of the OYE approach. To complement these trainings, entrepreneurs and service recipients are provided mentoring in technical fields. Prospective entrepreneurs are matched to seasoned entrepreneurs for hand-support and coaching in their desired sub-sector, providing them with practical, on-the-job learning opportunities. An integrated job fair’s approach also complements this support by creating a platform for job seekers to be matched to employers and other employment opportunities in the green economy.
About Pull (Market Systems)
The pull factor aims at developing partnerships with private sector businesses to create lasting internship, apprenticeship and job placement programmes as well as an enabling business environment. The programmes will attract the private sector to confidently rely on the supply of qualified skills from OYE. Various financing options are made available to service recipients through personal savings, business plan competitions and crowd funding. GrEEn will provide the Ghanaian youth with access to business and job opportunities in the green space through its digital platform.
OYE Journey
Benefits of OYE To Job Creation and GrEEn Economic Growth
The OYE Approach is comprehensive; thus, provides avenue to address all relevant aspects needed to direct ones’ aspirations towards employment and economic growth.
SNV’s unique OYE Approach provides the following
About OYE Graduates
OYE service recipients have the opportunity to go through a full cycle of three months of training; basic and advance, internship/mentoring and coaching. To become an OYE graduate, a service recipient must complete the advance Employability or Entrepreneurship training offered by a GrEEn Local Service provider.
OYE Graduates
Rachael Gyan
Western Region
Felix Appiah
Western Region
Clementina Agana
Ashanti Region
Abgail Amoako
Western Region