SOYDAVO’s youth and vocational center was established in 2011 with a mission of providing vocational trainings to the disadvantaged youth both women and girls from the marginalized communities in Burao. Currently, SOYDAVO’s youth center is in operation and fully functioning with small $5 self-paid fees collected from the trainees and with the help of unrestricted funds received from the Somaliland Diaspora in the UK. The center is and has a long history of providing marketable and high-quality training skills ranging from Plumbing, and beatifications to electricity, carpentry, and masonry. So far, nearly 1500 Youths equipped with the above skills have graduated from SOYDAVO Youth Center.
SOYDAVO’s youth training skills were supported during the years of 2011 up to 2014 by NRC with its successful Youth Education Package – YEP project. The project was graduated 500 Youth with both females and males who acquired the above-mentioned skills with a time-frame of 8 Months for each course.
The center, also provides soft skills including small business management, hospitality training and accounting and booking trainings. There are two types of certificates that the center issue for the students and are 6 Month’s certificate and 12 months Diploma Certificate. The need of the skill is usually noticed from the parent education committees who work voluntary with SOYDAVO’s youth center management and from the market. The parent committees who are selected from the IDP’s in Burao and the management take the decisions regarding the skill provision and more importantly the scholarship award that the Center provides for three students in each batch.
The center follows the Ministry of Education’s vocational training curriculum and those developed by the Ministry of the education.
The vocational trainings are more important for tackling the increasing youth unemployment but the lack of fund makes worse in the implementation of high quality training skills. Most of the students hails from the disadvantaged and drought affected community, and however don’t have capability of paying the small fees.
The provision of these kind of skills, also contribute to the economic development of the country, as the large unemployed youth constitute the inactive economic sources of the country.
Finally, SOYDAVO’s TVET is in operation and fully functioning but struggling with the lack of funds to continue serving for the poor communities.
With funding support from European Union, Concern Worldwide and International Solidarity Foundation, more than 400 youths from have graduated six months of beatification, masonry beautification, electricity, carpentry plumbing, art, and painting. while 250 women have graduated literacy and numeracy between 2018-2023.