THE National Youth Development Authority (NYDA), in partnership with the three district administrations in Hela and Immbongu in the Southern Highlands Province have mobilized the active youths through the youth Council network.
Director General Joe Itaki said the partnership was made with the view to unlock the youths mindset from the negativities and prepare them to be responsible citizens in the future.
Mr Itaki said about 20 youth Council executives gathered at the Highlands Regional Youth Training Center in Banz to undergo life skills, youth leadership, and basic literacy training.
He said the program is tailored to make them responsible people in their settings by being the role models amongst their peers. For too long, negative stories have hit the headlines for Hela, and this cannot be allowed to spiral further under the watch of current youths.
“They need to intervene themselves to make their societies peaceful once more,” he said.
Mr Itaki said the training was seen as an eye-opener for them after being locked in the trouble torn resource enclaves for too long. It spoke volumes when youths themselves identified their fallacies of the past and vowed to be good citizens going forward.
He said the 10 days training restored some sense of responsibility and dignity upon them, and the topics covered activated a renewed interest in them to be participants in the development spectrum.
The Center Training Director, Mr Michael Boro said two course programs were offered in the areas of personal and leadership development proposed by NYDA and as complement we also teach them basic computing skills modified to suit the participants level of education which is an added value that the center offers to youths.
“This youths were very excited to learn more and ask us to continue night sessions, as a computer trainer with my colleagues we tried all our best to make simple grade 3 understanding personal development skills, leadership development, and basic computing on MS word, email, internet etc.
“In future, we hope to train more youths from all over PNG who can’t make to formal education system due to requirements. We are proud of our achievements as a youth orientated skills training provider in the Highlands and Momase region,” Mr Boro said.
Mr Itaki commended the youths for taking up a stand to make their societies peaceful going forward. He said the youths are the backbone of any society so they must be accorded opportunities to participate in the mainstream development process.
“It is through such training that will open up opportunities for them to be recognized. Sometimes, it is the denial of recognition that triggers unexpected incidences so by attaining such training, it will close some gaps in their lives,” Itaki said.
Mr Itaki thanked the DDAs of the three Hela districts, and Imbongu for seeing this proactive approach to contain lawlessness in their settings.
“We will continue to support the four districts in all youth programs as they already demonstrated their commitment with NYDA.
“This was the first for the Highlands region, similar training will be conducted in the other regions and the participants were presented certificate of recognition, which will enable them to attend the next training (Youth SME, filming) to be conducted in the National Film Institute in Goroka,” Mr Itaki said.
He said other Districts are encouraged to partner NYDA to address issues perpetrated by mostly uneducated, semi-educated youths, together we can make a difference in our societies.