Youth policies cheer NGO

Thu, 20 Jul 2017 08:14:32 +0000

By CHINTU MALAMBO

GOVERNMENT’S decision to refocus its priorities on empowering young people will help the country grow economically, Civil Society for Poverty Reduction (CSPR) Executive Director Patrick Shindano has said.

Mr Shindano said that Zambia’s poplation was largely made up of youths hence the need to invest in the young people.

“As you know, Zambia is made up of a youthful society and you need to ensure that you invest in them because if you do not invest in them, what you are going to have is a desolate future. Ultimately, the youth are our current leaders.

“I’m glad that as a country, we have started refocusing, we have a development policy in place, job creation, industrialization strategy to ensure that the youth are developed and employed,” he said.

Mr Shindano said that there was need to go beyond and look at what skills the youth had to offer to integrate them into the workforce.

He said that there were many opportunities that youths would explore and develop themselves in various sectors of the economy.

Mr Shindano noted that the effects of unemployment led to the increase in poverty considering that Zambia was serious about reducing poverty.

Mr Shindano urged young people to start working on becoming job creators as opposed to being employed and refrain from vices like drug abuse, violence and crime which were the result of people being idle.