Holiday Empowerment Program (HEP)

Conrad Burns –

“Vocational education programs have made a real difference in the lives of countless young people nationwide; they build self-confidence and leadership skills by allowing students to utilize their unique gifts and talents”.

Youth Unemployment Rate in Nigeria on the average is about 21.31 percent. However, unemployment tends to be higher for people within the labour force that have post-secondary school qualifications (31.8% unemployment rate and 50.0% combined unemployment and underemployment in Q3 2017).

Quite a number of KIR Foundation youth beneficiaries are disadvantaged post-secondary school youth who want to attend tertiary institutions, but their parents cannot afford the cost and they are currently unemployed without any skills.

KIR Foundation through our skills acquisition/development projects equip youth with relevant skills that are consistent with the needs of the labour market. Thus, enabling our beneficiaries to get employment or become self-employed so that they can further their education and become contributing members of the society.

Research by World Bank has shown that; ‘Youth employment programs have shown positive effects on skills development, entrepreneurship, subsidized employment, and employment services for youth’. KIR Foundation with the support of donors has organized 40 Skills acquisition/ Development Projects since 2013.