PROJECTS

Youth Employment Programme

The Youth Employment Programme is the Social Mobility Network's commitment to help marginalized young people, particularly those facing barriers to employment, get the information and gain the skills, work experience and abilities they need to make a successful transition into the labour market.

The Basics:

• The Youth Employment Programme is a horizontal initiative involving the public sector, private sector, the humanitarian sectors and other agencies in Sierra Leone.



• The initiative is comprised of three program streams: Skills Link, Career Focus, and Placement (Work Experience).



• Employers and organizations can support by offering employment opportunities to young people under these three program streams.

Our goal is clear: to get more young people working, either through employment or by starting their own businesses.

To accomplish it we're providing them with the tools, experiences and entrepreneurial support they need.

Youth Job Network

The Youth Job Network is a program to help young people who need the most help to find and keep a job. The program will offer paid pre-employment training, job opportunities and mentorship to youth aged 15 to 35 years who are not working, in school, or in training. The programme will help students and youth find jobs through resources and information and placement (Internship) services.

Prevention Among Youth (PAY)

The vision behind Social Mobility Network (SMN) substance abuse prevention among youth programme is to improve health and social outcomes for youths, disables and families, with considerable reduced morbidity and mortality due to substance abuse and their ensuing social consequences. Thus the purpose of SMN substance abuse strategy is to support and complement public health policies in Sierra Leone.

The substance abuse and prevention among youth programme has five objectives:

1. Strengthened knowledge based on the magnitude and determinants of substance-related harm and on effective intervention to reduce and prevent such harm.


2. Increased technical support to, and enhanced capacity of, children and youths for preventing the harmful use of substance and managing substance use disorders and associated health conditions.


3. Raised awareness of the magnitude and nature of the health, social and economic problems caused by the harmful use of substance abuse, and increase the government commitment to act and address such issues.


4. Improved system for monitoring and surveillance at different schools, colleges and universities, and more effective dissemination and application of information for advocacy, policy development and evaluation purposes.


5. Strengthened partnerships and better coordination among children and youths and increased mobilization of resources required for appropriate and concerted action to prevent the harmful use of substance in Siera Leone.

Marketing of Harmful Substance

The exposure of young people to appealing marketing is of particular concern for SMN, as is the targeting of new markets in Sierra Leone, with current low prevalence alcohol consumption or high abstinent rates.

Both content of alcohol marketing and the amount of exposure of young people to that marketing are crucial issues for SMN.

A precautionary approach to protecting young people in colleges and universities against this marketing techniques is been considered by SMN. We are advocating for the:

• Regulation of the content and the volume of maketing
• Regulation of direct and indirect marketing in colleges and Universities, or all media
• Regulation of sponsorhip activites that promotes substance abuse in colleges and universities

Availability of Harmful Substance

Commercial and public availability of Substance can have a reciprocal influence on the social availability and thus contribute to changing social and cultural norms that promotes harmful use of Substance.

SMN strategies provide essential measure to prevent easy access to Substance by vulnerable and high-risk groups. In Sierra Leone , informal markets are some of the main sources of alcohol and formal control on sales needs to be complemented by actions addressing illicit or informally produced alcohol. SMN is advocating the following:

• Regulating the number and location of on and off colleges and universities premises
• Regulating days and hours of retail sales
• Regulating modes of retails sales of substance abuse
• Regulating retail sales in all colleges and universities campus during special events

Pricing Associated to Substance Abuse

Consumers, including heavy drinkers and young people, are sensitive to changes in the price of drinks and other Substance. Increasing the price of alcohol beverages is one of the most effective interventions to reduce harmful use of alcohol. We are advocating the following:

• Establishing a system for specific domestic taxation on alcohol accompany by an effective enforcement system, which may take into account, as appropriate, the alcoholic content of the beverage
• Banning or restricting the use of direct and indirect price promotion, discount sales, sales below cost and flat rates for unlimited drinking or other types of volume sales
• Establishing minimum pricing for alcohol where applicable
• Providing price incentives for non-alcoholic beverages

Youth Participation And Governance (GAP)

GAP is to strengthen youth-led development initiatives to bring about positive social, economic and environmental change across Sierra Leone. SMN works together with college, university students and communities to create sustainable programs that strengthen governance.

The GAP initiative addresses the deficits in governance by capacity building of college and university students through the formation of good governance groups in the colleges and universities, and using the university students to reach out to communities.

Creation of an aware and active youth citizenry, promoting a culture of responsiveness and accountability among the government functionaries.

This Programme provides a platform for experience sharing and generates learning based on Youth and Governance-related good practices that have proven to be effective in improving citizen participation and governance in other parts of the world.

Overall, SMN innovations and practices prove to be effective not only in leveraging the awareness levels of the youth citizens, but also in strengthening effective and coherent participation of the country for improved, accountable, transparent, and responsive governance.