We completed our tour of Kwilimuna, Luanshya, Masaiti and Chililabombwe Youth Resource Centers on the Copperbelt Province.
As you may be aware, under our Ministry we have 23 Youth Resource Centres across the country.
The Youth Resource Centres which target youths, both in and out of school are meant to impact our young people with various Skills in different sectors of the economy.
And also provide space for them to explore and access programmes and services from a safe place to hang out, offer supportive counselling, including employment and educational opportunities.
Youth Resource Centers are very critical to our vision as the New Dawn Government in dencetralising skills training.
Hence, we are in hurry to ensure the refurbishment of these institutions is finalized within a shortest possible time, and we are delighted with our cooperating partners that are willing to work with us to re-equip these centres.
The centers once fully refurbished will as well complement our efforts in providing services meant for our young people in a youth-friendly, safe, confidential and non-judgmental environment.
Meanwhile, In our remarks during our tour among other important needs for a successful operational of these centers, we pledged an increase monthly grants to youth resource centres in the country to help sustain their operations.
We noted that the current monthly grants are not sufficient for resource centers to operate.
We also stated that our Ministry will soon be engaging qualified staff that will be put on the payroll unlike using volunteers as it has been the case in most resource centers.
Resource centers should have qualified staff that will transfer skills to youths who will later apply them in society.
We further called on our officers manning the resource centers to be innovative and come up with various programmes that will help sustain them and supplement government efforts.