The United Nations Development Programme has recognised 25 youth for their ideas to create jobs. The Digital Job Creation Challenge organized by the UNDP in partnership with the labour ministry and the De-suung Skilling Programme saw close to 500 young applicants. It was organised to provide youth with IT tools and technology to bridge the supply and demand gap in the job market.
A graduate of the Technical Training Institute in Chhumey, Bumthang, Jigme Nidup plans to start off by doing freelance work. He is among the winners of the Digital Jobs Creation Challenge. He wants to move up and start a web development business. He says the prize of the challenge, a high-spec laptop worth USD 2,000, will be crucial for his plans.
“I am very thankful to the UNDP for giving me this opportunity. For my future plan, I think I will run a web development business which will be helpful to our youth. And I am very grateful for the high-spec laptop which will upgrade and enhance my web development business,” he said.
He will also get support and guidance to further his digital career. According to the Resident Representative of the UNDP, Azusa Kubota, the UNDP is coming up with ways to arrange programmes that will ensure continued support to the winners.
“Now, with this partnership, we have talked about mentoring programmes to support the winners throughout. They still need a lot of support to make sure they can be on their feet. So, I am hopeful that we will be able to provide that platform.”
She said this year’s edition of the Digital Jobs Creation and Innovation Challenge saw more partners and support which is motivating, especially when the country is recovering from the pandemic:
“I am very happy with the aspirations of the winners. I think what makes this second edition different from the first edition is the partnership with the De-suung Skilling Programme. The reason is that now, after the pandemic, our national efforts to invest in young people have been accelerated. We have so many partners, and I firmly believe in the importance of bringing as many partners as possible.”
The organizers are hopeful that the winners like Jigme will not only contribute to creating employment but also play a major part in the development of digital technology in the country.
Karma Samten Wangda
Edited by Sonam
