This facility will offer vocational training programmes in electrical work, carpentry, construction, plumbing, human resources management, business administration and cookery.
Last Thursday was a day of celebration in Mozambique, specifically in the city of Pemba, in Cabo Delgado province. It was the day chosen for the inauguration of an employment centre and a youth incubator. The initiative was supported by Portugal.
The incubator will offer a wide range of vocational training courses in several areas, namely electrical work, carpentry, construction, plumbing, human resources, business administration and cookery. It aims to provide an environment that encourages beneficiaries to create business projects, with the aim of promoting self-employment.
Osvaldo Petersburgo, Mozambique's Secretary of State for Youth and Employment, expressed his opinion that this initiative will broaden the range of technical and vocational training opportunities for the young people of Cabo Delgado. This is a province where unemployment has been regarded as one of the factors that favour the recruitment of young people by armed groups operating in the region. Petersburgo urged those in charge of the centre and the incubator to make the most of the existing infrastructure, ensuring top-quality training for their trainees.
For her part, Patrícia Pincarilho, a representative of the Portuguese embassy in Mozambique, pointed to the creation of job opportunities for the young people of Cabo Delgado as one of the main benefits expected from the opening of this centre and incubator.
She also stressed the importance of training in professional skills that will allow beneficiaries to take an active part in the value chain related to the exploration and production of natural gas in the Rovuma basin, located in Cabo Delgado province.
This region has been the scene of an armed insurgency for five years, with several attacks claimed by the extremist group Islamic State.
The situation has required a military response since July 2021, with the support of Rwanda and the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which have managed to free districts close to gas projects, but new waves of attacks have emerged in the south of the region and in neighbouring Nampula province.
The conflict has already displaced one million people, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and caused approximately 4,000 deaths, according to the conflict-monitoring project ACLED.
