By Zweli Martin Dlamini

MBABANE: Rose Ssebatindira,the outgoing United Nations Development Program(UNDP) Resident Representative, has urged Government and the private sector to provide more employment opportunities for the youth graduates and non graduates.

The outgoing UNDP Resident Representative was speaking in Mbabane during her last exclusive interview with this Swaziland News last week.She was interviewed by journalist Colani Khulekani Maseko at the Eswatini Bank Auditorium during the financial institution’s R1.2million contribution to the ongoing and most effective Eswatini Youth Empowerment Program(EYEP) facilitated by the UNDP in collaboration with the Eswatini Government and the private sector.

“To the youth I would say I’m encouraging you to participate in this program, the platform is open to graduates and those that are not graduates”, she said.

The outgoing UNDP Resident Representative said,she noted that young people “are eager to join the program but, they must be absorbed, trained and thereafter”, government and the private sector must give them the opportunity to practice what they have learned.

The ongoing UNDP Youth Empowerment Program facilitates training and/or internships for graduates with giant companies, to enable them to gain experience and prepare for future employment.

On the other hand, some young people are trained and capacitated with skills to establish their own businesses and create employment opportunities.

“I am therefore appealing to the private sector,to government, to absorb these youth.We have three thousand(3000) graduates who have applied for this program and in our database,we have details of their qualifications and they are ready to be deployed”, said the outgoing UNDP Resident Representative.

On another note, the Eswatini Youth Empowerment Program(EYEP) is one of the effective programs facilitated by the UNDP while Rose Ssebatindira was holding the position as Resident Representative.