Flood affected youth: PSDF inks accord on free technical, vocational training

Punjab Skills Development Fund (PSDF) has arranged free vocational and technical training facilities for flood affected youth in the district of Muzaffargarh. The project entitled "Skills for Livelihood in Muzaffargarh" is aimed to promote sustained livelihood in the youth.
In this regard, a contract was signed with a consortium of Hashoo Foundation and Punjab Vocational Training Council at Planning & Development Department on Saturday. On the occasion Ali Akbar, Country Director Hashoo Foundation; Ali Sarfraz, CEO of PSDF; Javed Akhter Khan, Regional Programme Manager Hashoo Foundation and Sarah Saeed, Skills Strategy Advisor were present. Hashoo Foundation, which would be the lead service provider for this contract, has formed an alliance with Punjab Vocational Training Council to train 500 deserving youth above the age of 16 years belonging to six model villages of Muzaffargarh district. The six month long vocational training will be imparted in tailoring/embroidery, welding, electrician, auto-mechanic and mobile repairing and will be held through vocational training institutes in Muzaffargarh and Kot Addu. The courses will be employment-oriented and will also provide guidance to the trainees for job search or opening their own small-scale businesses.
PSDF is a not-for-profit company set up with the contributions of Government of Punjab and Department for International Development, UK for skills development of the poor and vulnerable populations in four districts of Southern Punjab namely Bahawalpur, Bahawalnagar, Muzaffargarh and Lodhran. The Fund's core activity is financing training products by inviting tenders and selecting partners though an open competitive process. Ground work for launch of a programme for training of 6000 poor individuals from the said districts has also been completed.