Street Project Foundation, a non-governmental organisation designed to alleviate youth unemployment crisis in Nigeria, has called for employer partners to participate in the third edition of its creative youth boot camp.

The boot camp, which begins on November 11 with the theme, ‘Art for Social Transformation’, presents an opportunity for singers, musicians, poets, creative writers, presenters, comedians, spoken word artists, actors, visual artists, fashion enthusiasts and performance artists of any kind to hone their skills under the guidance and mentorship of industry experts.

At the end of the six-week boot camp, participants will be placed on internships with employer partners and matched with mentors.

Speaking in a recent interview in Lagos, Founder and Lead Visionary of Street Project Foundation, Rita Ezenwa-Okoro, explained that what makes the initiative unique is how performance is used to build soft skills, as well as ensuring youths in Nigeria pursue their passion while giving them a platform to showcase their talents.

“The whole essence of this is to teach young people soft skills that they need for the workplace. One thing that people are always looking out for when they want to hire the entry-level position is the character of work: timeliness, ability to communicate effectively, project management, teamwork, team building these are all of the things that we teach our young people when they come to the creative youth boot camp.

“We want to encourage employers to partner with us because a big part of the project is internship placement and mentoring after the boot camp,” she said.

The Foundation’s Director of Programmes, Ezenwa Okoro, called on employers’ partners from both creative and corporate organisations interested in accepting interns from the boot camp to attend the Street Project Foundation’s Employer Partnership Forum, scheduled for Friday, November 8, in Abuja.

This year’s edition, which is supported by VOICE, will have a total of 100 participants, which is inclusive of the 30 gifted youths living with physical disabilities.

All participants will be split into four cohorts of 25 each and placed on internships at the end of the boot camp.

Since its inception in 2016, a total of 200 young people have been up-skilled, with 80 per cent placed on internships and 50 per cent securing full-time jobs or starting their own businesses after the programme.

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