Workforce Skills

Mar 23, 2010 (LBO) - The United States has given 750 scholarships to youth in Sri Lanka's former war zone in the north and east to help them find jobs, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) said. It said in a statement it recently awarded 500 scholarships in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to youth in the north.

Earlier, the US development agency provided ICT scholarships to 250 young people from the east.

"The scholarships will provide the recipients with the skills needed to meet current workforce demands."

USAID, in a partnership with Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential Partnership (UPP) program, developed computer-based ICT curricula to address the workforce needs in the agriculture, apparel, media, and tourism sectors.

"These four sectors account for about 39 percent of all jobs in Sri Lanka, and ICT skills are critical to succeeding in these areas," Rebecca Cohn, USAID Mission Director said.

Infoshare, a local non-profit organization, designed the curriculum and IDM, an ICT academy, did the training.

Although the UPP initiative is ending, another USAID project will use the curricula to train an additional 10,000 youth throughout the east, th