The future of the world is in the youths who need training, exposure, and empowerment to lead like good leaders. Youths need digital material and services to improve the quality of their lives and the lives of the people living in the community. Several volunteers have decided to have youth empowerment programs to help the youths achieve the most in life. They equip the youths with life skills that will help them not only in the corporate places but also in life generally.
Youth Empowerment in Ajegunle
Ajegunle is a Lagos slum found in the Lagos state. The youths in the area need equal opportunities like every other youth in the country. They need exposure and connections to the rich, corporate world. The LIFE program is trying to build people and equip them with skills that will qualify them in high places.
The LIFE Program
Paradigm Initiative, a social enterprise team, controls the program. Its aim and mission are to help under-served communities in society. Many people are going through the program to gain a few skills to help them in the real world. LIFE stands for life skills (L), information, and communication technology (I), Financial Literacy (F), and Entrepreneurship (E).
The site states:
“The program concentrates on youth who do not have the financial capacity to acquire relevant ICT, entrepreneurial and life skills. The LIFE center serves as a knowledge hub where youth from the community can get empowerment for the world of work. It also serves as a center for the advancement of workplace preparedness for the program beneficiaries.”
The Paradigm Initiative
PIN promotes digital rights to increase the livelihoods of the under-served communities. The Paradigm Initiative calls the meetings of the Digital Rights and Inclusion Forum.
The Views Of Emmanuel Vitus
He is the communication officer of PIN. He says that the process involved in the program is large. It consists of the application stage, orientation, training stage, examination, graduation, and evaluation. Besides, it tracks the beneficiaries’ progress.
Activities of the LIFE Program
The program extends in more than 1 Nigerian geopolitical territory. They are the Ajegunle LIFE, which began in 2007 in cyber cafes where public facilities trained the youths. Aba LIFE launched seven years later, almost a decade after the 1st facility. Finally, Dakata LIFE began four years ago, and its operations are in Dakata.
ICT Topics and Visions to the Aba LIFE Activities
The center runs more than two sessions annually with over 100 youths. The topics that the Aba LIFE center covers are computer appreciation, MS office productivity tools, HTML, and MYSQL. Moreover, it covers JavaScript and Virtual collaboration tools.
The Challenges Faced
Despite the centers helping a lot of youths, they face a lot of barriers. These are the costs, lack of volunteers, and lack of community support. The worst challenge they are facing is the coronavirus pandemic. The virus has disrupted most of their activities, especially the ones that involve physical contact.
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