Sierra Leone’s Minister of Youth Affairs, Mohamed Orman Bangura has announced that with the World Bank’s funded Productive Social Safety Net and Youth Empowerment Project under the National Youth Commission, government has plan to create seven thousand job opportunities for the young people in the country.

Minister Bangura said the move is to address the challenges of unemployment among young people in the country and to help make young people self-reliance and productive.

He said efforts are underway to ensure youth participation in governance, empower 70,000 youths and positively influence the mindsets of at least 1,000 young people.

He said a pivotal development in the ministry’s work has been the production of a comprehensive status report on the youth in collaboration with the World Bank and other partners.

The Report he said involved extensive research across all districts and chiefdoms, employing 200 researchers and three international consultants, alongside a consortium of local experts.

The minister highlighted the ‘Productive Social Safety Net and Youth Empowerment’ project under the National Youth Commission, which aims to empower 8,000 young people.

He said the initiative provides training, financial accounts and placement in lucrative positions to ensure sustainable development.

In a bid to streamline youth empowerment efforts, Minister Bangura announced the creation of a $1.5 million project featuring an online platform, forum to facilitate access to job opportunities and other empowerment programs outlined in the Big Five Manifesto.

The ministry also introduced a project supplying 70 boats equipped for fishing, with an additional 50 boats to be distributed next week. This initiative has already created 1,000 jobs and is expected to generate another 1,000 in its second phase