Training centres to provide various certified employment skills, workshops and seminars for the locals to enable them to secure jobs and afford the cost of educating their children.

URBOND is currently seeking to address a growing crisis in Guinean society, of young people leaving the country illegally to try to reach Europe. In doing so, they risk their lives. This crisis of irregular migration stems from the poor quality of the Guinean education system and its unsuitability in providing the right skills that will enable young adults to access the jobs market and a secure future. In Guinea, latest figures suggest that even 65% of university graduates are unemployed in Guinea, and the informal economy accounts for 70% of employment.

URBOND wants to create a bespoke Tech Training Centre in Conakry, the Guinean capital, to provide the kind of high-quality, job-ready training that will enable young people between 18 and 30 to stay in the country, instead of attempting the perilous and potentially deadly journey to Europe. This Centre will recruit underprivileged young people to the training programme, and then foster these students’ entrepreneurial skills through an intensive six-month training programme, with the aim of building their skills for financial independence.

During the first six months of its existence, the Tech Training Centre will take on 20 young people as a pilot, to ensure the system works smoothly. Its capacity will subsequently increase to an intake of 80 young people every six months. Disabled people face particular barriers to employment, and so URBOND aims for disabled people to comprise 30% of beneficiaries.