Aletta Shikololo
WINDHOEK – Unemployment has become one of the biggest concerns among Namibian youth, despite the government’s efforts to tackle it. It’s because of the issue that the Mariental-born Romanus Kanyanga decided to do his part to tackle youth unemployment.
Kanyanga, who is a teacher by profession at Berg-OP Academy in Mariental, says he has been extremely concerned about a large number of youth on the streets struggling to get jobs, which pushed him to start Hardap Youth Development Project that focuses on helping unemployed youth and dropouts in Hardap Region with the necessary skills on how to acquire jobs or start their own business.
Some of the lessons Kanyanga offers through his project are writing of formal letters, business plans or management, online advertisements and other important documents, just to mention a few.
In an interview with Youth Corner, Kanyanga said unemployment is on the rise and it is his responsibility as a youth to help others improve their standard of living while at the same time contributing to the GDP.
“In Mariental there are no job opportunities – about 70 percent of the youth are unemployed. After doing a survey around town, I discovered that the majority of the youth are unemployed because they do not know much about job hunting. This is why I started giving free workshops to the youth, whereby I teach them how to write formal letters and other necessary documents,” explained Kanyanga who also offers information technology communication (ICT) skills training and becoming computer literate.
The 27-year-old Kanyanga, who deeply believes in youth empowerment, says: “This initiative is significant to me because it pains me seeing young people involving themselves in illegal situations because of the difficulties of finding a job.”
He started with the initiative in June this year and already has 30 participants and is still growing.
Responding to why he does not charge a fee for his work, Kanyanga said: “The aim is to help the youth that did not get the privilege of going to university to get knowledge and sponsorships and those that are not employed to get training for free because they do not have enough money.”
As one of his major plans, Kanyanga is working on having a youth expo in Hardap to help young people showcase their talents and skills.
He advises fellow youth not to ever give up on themselves and to always keep on seeking good opportunities in life.