Five thousand three hundred (5,300) unemployed citizens of Fiji have registered with the National Employment Centre, through its seven (7) centres around Fiji.
Director NEC, Vilimone Baledrokadroka said initially, they had targeted ten thousand unemployed citizens to be registered this year.
“However, after the second quarter we’ve achieved more than half of our target which is very encouraging indeed.”
Mr Baledrokadroka said from the 9th of August, the Centre will commence training for the nine thousand registered citizens in the Northern Division.
Following this, they will concentrate on those registered in the Western Division, before they move to the Central Division.
“The training will be in phases, the first phase will be counseling and aptitude test, the second phase will be 2 weeks of life skills training, the third phase will be the 6 months work attachments,” Mr Baledrokadroka said.
Mr Baledrokadroka said the 2 weeks life skills training will be outsourced to tertiary institutions like Training and Productivity Authority of Fiji (TPAF), Fiji National University (FNU), University of the South Pacific (USP) and University of Fiji (UoF)
“It is our target that after training, these people will be able to gain fulltime employment or become self-employed or even work as volunteers if they wish to.
Mr Baledrokadroka said the current reforms undertaken by Government is inline with the aims of the National Employment Centre.
“The initiative by the Lands Department in opening its Land Reform Unit and the Reserve Bank of Fiji in facilitating the Micro-finance obligation of Fiji Banks will assist people registered to the Centre in securing the funds needed to start up small businesses and commercial farms,” Baledrokdroka said.