The Rwanda Development Board through its Chief Skills Office in partnership with the German Development Corporation and the Huye District administration today launched the Huye Employment Service Center as part of the Public Employment Service Centers being established in different secondary cities of the country. This is in line with the government’s target to curb unemployment and create 1.5 million jobs by 2024.

The Huye center follows two other centers that were launched in Kigali and Musanze. The RDB Chief skills office also unveiled two buses which will provide Mobile Employment Services nationwide.

The solar-powered buses and centers are equipped with laptops and printers, allowing people to search for jobs on RDB’s online job portal, kora.rw as well as receive career guidance from employment professionals. The devices are also user friendly and equipped to facilitate applicants with disabilities such as the blind.

The centres are aimed at addressing unemployment and underemployment by linking jobseekers and employers by providing information on career planning, training on job search, and other counselling support that will lead to job placements. Speaking at the launch of the center, Elodie Rusera, the RDB Chief Skills Officer said:

“The Government’s National Strategy for Transformation which clearly indicates that we must create 1.5 million jobs by 2024. This means that on an annual basis, 214,000 productive jobs must be created, which calls for concerted efforts and includes interventions in favour of the most vulnerable groups in the labour market, such as youth, women and the disabled. Even though information about the National Employment Programme (NEP) training interventions might reach them, there are limited opportunities to participate in job matching events afterwards. They are not benefitting from employment services, which are substantial to facilitate job placement. This is why the Government has designed policies and employed considerable efforts to tackle the issue such as the buses offering Mobile Employment Services and the establishment of Public Employment Service Centres(PESC) in Kigali, Musanze and the newly established one in Huye.”

Ange Sebutege, Huye District’s Mayor said: 

“Due to the strategic location of the district, this center will serve the people in other districts of the Southern Province. The launch today is testament to the good partnership we have with GIZ and RDB. The district cannot tackle the unemployment rate without the collaboration of all stakeholders. Under the district development strategy, together with the private sector and other stakeholders, we set a target to create over 6,000 jobs. It is my hope that the center opened today and the Mobile Employment Services buses that will reach out to many people in the rural areas will reduce unemployment and underemployment challenges in the region.”

Inga Kluender-Pruss, the Deputy Head of Development Cooperation at the German Embassy in Kigali noted:

“With an average of 200,000 people joining the labor market every year, Public Employment Service Centers are a crucial instrument in organising a transparent and functioning market place bringing together supply and demand of labour. Six years ago, Rwanda stood at the beginning of offering public employment services when launching the first Public Employment Service Center in Sub-Saharan Africa in Kigali. Three years ago, Musanze Employment Service Center was launched as the first step in the upscaling of the Public Employment Services in secondary cities and today we are launching the third one in Huye. There is still need to further expand these services as its clients are not only in the cities but those living in remote areas should also benefit as well. The Mobile Employment Services are coming in as a homegrown solution that will support the Public Employment Service Centers, with a value addition for people living with disabilities by providing computers with Braille keyboards and easing the on-boarding for people with limited mobility.”