Graduation Ceremony of Darfur Youth Volunteers 2016
-Youth Volunteers Rebuilding Darfur Project (YVRDP) Phase II-
Darfur- December, 2016: Between 14-21 December 2016, 150 youth volunteers were awarded certificates for successfully completing the nine-month voluntary deployment as community development workers in local communities in all the five Darfur states under the Youth Volunteers Rebuilding Darfur Project (YVRDP). The YVRDP is a joint project implemented by UNDP and the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) with the support of the Government of Sudan and funded by the Republic of Korea.
Separate graduation ceremonies were organized in El Fasher, Geneina, and Nyala in cooperation with the Peace Centres of the Universities of El Fasher, Geneina, Zalenge and Nyala. The Deputy Korean Ambassador and UNDP Sudan Deputy Country Director (Programme) as well as over 250 people attended the ceremonies, including youth volunteers, State Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Agriculture, the United Nations–African Union Mission in Darfur, UN agencies and partner NGOs.
In addition to the graduation ceremonies, job fairs were organized to reinforce the sustainability of the initiative and to facilitate access to the job market in Sudan by giving the youth volunteers first-hand exposure to potential employers and receiving information to enhance their competitiveness in the job market. The job fair featured a number of private companies, public institutions and UN organizations such as Sudani, MTN, Zain, Saving and Social Development Bank, Bank of Khartoum, El Fasher tech. (local ICT company), Labour unit in the Ministry of Finance, WFP, UNICEF, OCHA, UNHCR, UNFPA, IOM and UNAMID participated in the job fairs where they provided value-added career information to the prospective youth volunteers. The University of Nyala invited six former youth volunteers from YVRDP Phase I to advise the new graduate volunteers on the way forward.
During the ceremony, the Deputy Ambassador of the Republic of Korea congratulated the youth volunteers and stated that "This project has created agents for change in Darfur, which is you (the Youth volunteers). When I think of all the positive changes that you will create for Darfur in the future, we celebrate today's graduation not only for you, but also for Darfur as a whole. I am very proud that the Republic of Korea was able to contribute to this end."
Hamid Ebaid Alnas, a youth volunteer from Ed Daein, said "I appreciate this opportunity to work as a youth volunteer. Through this program, I learned a lot and gained excellent coordination skills. The job fair was also very useful because it gave me detailed and up-to-date information about each institution's recruitment system."
The Youth Volunteers Rebuilding Darfur project addresses key challenges for environmentally sustainable poverty reduction in Darfur by establishing a youth volunteers-led scheme. In partnership with the Universities of El Fasher, Geneina, Zalengei and Nyala, UNV, UNDP trained 150 university-graduates from Darfur and subsequently deployed them as youth volunteers and agents of peace and development in 45 local communities across the five Darfur states for nine (9) months.
UNDP partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. On the ground in more than 170 countries and territories, we offer global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations.
Find more YVRDP volunteers' stories:
"Youth volunteers train for a better future for Darfur" UNDP Global website"Harnessing Youth Talents to Rebuild Darfur" UNDP Sudan website"International Volunteers Day 2013" UNV Sudan Facebook page"New Beginnings: Building Livelihoods in Otash IDP Camp in Darfur"
UNDP Sudan website"Graduation Ceremony of Darfur Youth Volunteers-Press-release" UNDP Sudan website
For more information, please contact: John Anodam, Programme Manager UNDP Darfur Livelihoods and Recovery Programme, UNDP Sudan john.anodam@undp.org
Edited by Hiromi Amano, Youth and Livelihoods officer,
UNDP Darfur Livelihoods and Recovery Programme, UNDP Sudan
