Bursalah is sixty kilometers North-west of Galkayo within the district of Mudug. BurSalah is located on the border of Ethiopia/Somalia; Galkaio is the capital of the district of Mudug.
In September 2002, the school was officially opened and the first classes were held. The opening of the school is the reason why the region of Bur Salah population has increased by many folds over the recent years and also more economic activities have emerged creating jobs as a ripple effect of the school. Since then, BurSalah has become a place which draws the hearts and eyes of those who have their roots in the area; this has translated to many people visiting Bur Salah from all corners of the world more often.
The current population living in BurSalah and surrounding area are now more than 20,000 people. It has become a place where people reside and study as a result of relative peace and tranquility in BurSalah, the area has become one of the most sought after places in Puntland, Somalia. The town is controlled and patrolled by Puntland Police who maintains the peace, a define moment in Bur Salah’s history.
Bursalah is now an education hub for more than 1031 students, all who are either in primary schools, secondary schools or within adult learning institutes.
Unfortunately, Bursalah do not have colleges or universities where youth can join after clearing high school, this has made the youth in the area to be vulnerable and prone to risky adventures like illegal migration, piracy, joining Alshabab or clan militias.
In addition, Bursalah at the moment is temporary home to hundreds of people who were affected by drought, the famine led them to losing all of their livestock, these people do not have any opportunities and this makes them vulnerable in many aspects, one is food insecurity, they do not have any skills and other means that can enable them eke for a living.
In 2010, vocational education training centre was established, where craftwork, mechanical work, business and finance are taught and offered, this was after a baseline survey that we did in the area, where we found out that youth and women in Bursalah district have little skills and some lack it at all, given that youth have consistently borne the brunt of the protracted conflict for the third generation now, when they enter the job market, their likelihood of finding a job is very minimal, this scenario has left a lot of youth and women with an option of illegal and risky migration as the only solution to the problem.
As SDC, we are committed to the success of the youth, able to mobilize key collaborators, and staffed to manage projects. Our staff members include youth to ensure shared ownership of implementation. SDC has very good track record in carrying out multiple programs benefiting youth and is currently running a youth multipurpose center equipped for recreation activities, skills developing tools and classes for mentoring sessions.
In 2018, we planned to do fund raising to get fund to conduct vocational education training in Bursalah district, that benefitted most vulnerable youth and women in Bursalah including school dropouts, drought effected peoples, so that we prepared this joint proposal each partner will play particular role.
As SDC we believe that vocational skills interventions can address the problem, youth and women when imparted with skills on small business entrepreneurship and provided with grants will go a long way in self-independency and employment.
SDC will provide skill training to the beneficiaries in Bursalah Vocational skills centre located at Bursalah district. The centre is a foundation and pathways programs, on vocational training sectors. It is in the process of enrolling aspiring youth and students for skill training and practice.
The project will provide vocational skills to 100 unskilled youth and women of Bursalah district, under this project, the Youth and Women will be provided with Sustainable Skills and start up kits, 100 people (60% female) will get six months of vocational skills/education in; mobile-phone repairing, electricity and computer.
The main objective of this project is to contribute towards achievement of ending hunger and reduction in risky illegal migration of unskilled youths and women.
This project activities will be: Market oriented vocational skills training with provision of start-up kits and innovative ways to link the beneficiaries with the market demand.
The categories of people who will be considered for the project are the unskilled, unemployed and underprivileged members of the society e.g. orphans, also school dropouts, divorced mothers and widows are in dire need of basic needs and supplementary benefits. This service can hence be used to create opportunities to the target group.
SDC will work together and closely with the Ministry of labour, employment, youth and sports (MOLYS), Ministry of education (MOE), Bursalah Municipality, IDPs/Host committees and elders.
The community will be involved in the project from the start; they will play a key role in planning, some key contributions of the community includes, Community mobilization to create enabling environment for the project, raise awareness among community members about the project and ensuring sustainability through active participation.
The expected activities that we are planning to roll-out are as follows: launching & orientation meetings, registration & identification Process, develop course outline and manuals, preparation of schedule for the periods/classes, starting of training sessions and subsequent monthly instructors meeting.
Through the project a total of 100 trainees (at least 60% of the trainees will be female) aged 18 years and above will be imparted with marketable skills namely: Mobiles-phone repairing, electrical skills and computer skills.The beneficiaries will breakdown 70% IDPs and 30% urban poor throughout the 6 months of the project implementation.
Registration of the beneficiaries will focus mostly on the vulnerable groups in line with a developed criterion; the beneficiaries will strictly be those who fall under the criteria, 50% will be women.
The Beneficiaries will come to the centre on 6 days (Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and Thursday) between 08:00AM – 12:00PM, and the end of every month will be conducting monthly exams and monthly instructors meeting on the way to discuss monthly progress with the staff on monthly achievements and what is needed to be done.