El-Obeid 11th– 15th January 2012- In continuation of UNDP’s support to the role of saving and credit as a mean of availing sustainable employment opportunities for empowering the most disfavored group of youth particularly women in the rural poor areas, the first TOT training of Autonomous Savings and Credit Association was organized in North Kordofan State.
25 young candidates were selected from within the 204 participants already trained on Autonomous Savings and Credit to qualify as trainers. The selection was gender-sensitive and based on their capacities and readiness. The five days TOT training principally aims to build capacities and knowhow for those twenty five candidates to master the TOTs in the area of savings and credit and other related fields/activities.
Youth Participants at the training made several statements at the closing of the training.
One of the participants remarked ‘I can now understand other people better, respect their opinions and benefit from that. I do recognize that great outputs are generated when groups work in a harmony -I will make use of 25 brains instead of one’.
Another participant stated : ‘when I’ve graduated from university I had the feeling that I am not important to my society, but now the situation is different, I think I can contribute a lot’. One of the participants said that he had participated in so many training workshops before, but this one is “outstanding” owing to the organization, content and training methodology and the know- how he had gained.
The closing ceremony of the training took place on 15th January 2012 during which the 25 participants have been awarded a certificate of completion of training.
The training, supported under the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Spanish Fund (MDG-F), is an effort to create opportunities for employment for Sudanese youth in North Kordofan, South Kordofan and Blue Nile States, is part of the joint programme, “Creating Opportunities for Youth Employment in Sudan being implemented by eleven UN and UN affiliated organizations and their national counterparts.
The TOT training comes as part of series of Autonomous Savings and Credit training phases especially targeting the young people in North Kordofan, South Kordofan and Blue Nile States being identified as requiring assistance in the areas of capacity building and gaining knowledge and skills in the area of credit and savings.