National Service Personnel to undertake service abroad in new programme

The National Service Scheme (NSS) will roll out a programme that will afford fresh graduates the opportunity to travel abroad for up to three months to work with a company.

The programme christened “National Service Global Practice Initiative” seeks to mould Ghanaian youth into globally-exposed youth leaders with universal experience, ideas and best practices to contribute to the development of their local communities.

The initiative, which form part of the Scheme’s strategic plan, will hopefully begin in the 2019/2020 national service postings, and offer opportunity to between 100 to 200 graduates.

Executive Director of the scheme, Mustapha Ussif, announced this in Accra at a National Youth Unemployment Dialogue on the theme: “Addressing Youth Unemployment in Ghana: Strategies for Sustainability and Inclusivity”.

Mr. Mustapha Ussif explained that the programme was necessary because the Scheme wanted to have a continuous supply of Ghanaian leaders who were adequately prepared to tackle local issues and deliver local solutions to build strong communities utilising global best practices.

It is estimated that about 50 per cent of graduates who leave Ghanaian Universities would not find jobs for two years after their national service and 20 per cent of these graduates would not find jobs after three years of completing their national service.

This, according to the Executive Director, was a concern for all to develop innovative ways to assuage the menace.

Mr Ussif said as a result of the phenomenon, government had initiated initiatives such as the Nation’s Builders Corps, Youth Employment Programme and Planting for Food and Jobs for the youth to exhibit their intellect and skills to vital sectors of the country’s economy.

Touching on digitization, Mr Ussif said the National Service application has been digitised to improve efficiency and provided with large data to analyze and make realistic decisions for the scheme.

On measures to develop graduate entrepreneurs, the Executive Director, said the Scheme in September 2017 started piloting the National Service Entrepreneurship Model with 500 graduates.

The model provided support for graduates with entrepreneurial ideas and sound business plans to implement their ideas throughout the national service period and beyond.

Mr Ussif announced that the Scheme has entered into a strategic partnership with Songhai Group to establish a training hub, where 10 service personnel will be trained and vetted by consultants on how to develop the next-generation digital tools.