As Sierra Leone continues to experience high unemployment, especially among young graduate people, Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Coalition has hosted its first Job Fair in Sierra Leone on Thursday 19th April 2018 at the British Council, Tower Hill, Freetown.

The Job Fair brought about over five hundred job seeker participants, meeting their potential future employers including Save the Children, Sierra Rutile, Cordaid, Total SL, Schooling for Life; AfriGas; Afriqia, Welt Hunger Hilfe; British Council, Radisson Blu Hotel, National Youth Commission (NYC) and host of other employers across the country to know what qualifications or skills are actually required to become employee of any such institution.

Speaking to cross section of journalists at the Job Fair, Chairman TVET Coalition who doubles as the Commissioner, NYC, Anthony Koroma disclosed that TVET Coalition is an alliance composed of government institutions, training providers, international donors, the private sector, NGOs and bi/multilateral organizations. He said TVET’s overarching objective is to support the government in its mandate to improve the quality and employability of its graduates in Sierra Leone by aligning the demand with the supply of skills and competencies.

The Chairman noted that the Job Fair focuses on bringing together job seekers that are currently in secondary/vocational education and their potential future employer. He said the Job Fair gives employers the chance to address a large audience indicating their staffing needs, selection criteria and the opportunities to potentially future employees.

Anthony Koroma said TVET Coalition’s key strategies include networking, advocacy, research, image, campaigning, among others, in order to actualize the coalition’s objective of improving the employability of TVET graduates and creating an environment that promotes cooperation between the private sector and training providers.

It also brings vocational institutes and other training institutions on the platform so that students can find where to study what a specific job requires. This way, the coalition aims to establish a clear pathway for students to become self employed or entrepreneurs.

British Council Project Delivery Coordinator, Umaru Fofana said the Job Fair is the first time they are organizing the event for job seekers across the country. He said this first Job Fair caters for 500 job seekers to meet with their potential future employers coupled with submission of curriculum vitae and registration for any suitable employment. Cross section of the job seekers spoke to express thanks and appreciation to TVET Coalition for creating the link between job seekers and employers.

According to them, the Job Fair gave them the opportunity to meet with their potential future employers to know what qualifications require become employee of the interested institutions. “Interest in the Job Fair has been enormous; far more wishing to participate both as job seekers and sponsors than we can accommodate this first time around,” says the organizers. TVET Coalition was formed in early 2015 and is made of parties interested in supporting TVET in Sierra Leone. It is voluntary and non-fee paying and currently includes the divisions below: Government; NGOs; Private Sector, Training Providers and Multilaterals/Bi-laterals.