Working together to boost employability skills for young people in South Tarawa, Kiribati, WLI alumni Save Redfern and Teitinrerei Bobo, put the WLI program’s LeadershipFund to excellent use, designing and delivering a series of workshops focused on building the basic skills needed for young people in Kiribati to confidently enter and navigate the workforce.
The work-ready training was carefully tailored for unemployed youth, including young parents and students who didn’t finish school, or are currently in their final year.
“The workshops focused on basic skills for young job seekers and aimed to boost their confidence and empower them to apply for jobs within local government, organisations and companies, or even establishing their own business,” explains Save.
Working together to make a difference
For young people living in Kiribati right now, the opportunity to enhance their employability skills and opportunities is imperative.
According to the International Labour Organization, unemployment is a predominant feature in Kiribati, with current statistics outlining an unemployment rate of 11%, 27% for youth. Almost half of all youth in Kiribati are not in employment, education or training (47.6%) – one of the highest rates in the Pacific region. Increasing urbanisation has drawn more and more people from the outer islands to the capital Tarawa but this hasn’t translated into employment – especially for the country’s young people.
Save, who is a human rights advocate and Master of Governance and Public Policy graduate, is deeply passionate about encouraging marginalised communities to participate in Kiribati’s development, shares what drove her and Teitinrerei to set up a work-ready training workshop for young adults in Tarawa.
“There is no work-ready training in Tarawa available at a grassroots level, so we identified a gap for employment skills training. This was further underpinned by our experiences and conversations with our neighbours, communities and churches.”
“And on a more practical level, job vacancies in Kiribati have now started to request CVs and cover letters in their advertisements, so there is a real need for CV and cover letter writing training,” adds Save.
Getting work ready
During the workshops, participants gained hands-on experience crafting tailored cover letters and CVs.
“It was great to see everyone so engaged and eager to refine their professional documents,” says Teitinrerei, an educational specialist and also a Master of Governance and Public Policy graduate committed to driving positive change in Kiribati, specifically in Kiribati’s education sector.
Some of the workshop participants in their final year of high school shared with Save and Teitinrerei that they felt work-ready training programs should be delivered to all final-year students to help prepare them for the workplace in case they don’t make it to university.
“The implementation of our project was very timely for the participants in their final year at high school,” notes Save, “and given the opportunity – if we can do more workshops in the future – we will aim to time future workshops so that students in their final year of school can attend.”
“We received great feedback from many participants, saying they found the sessions helpful in their professional development. This included one gentlemen who shared his gratitude for the workshop because it helped both him and his wife get a job. He said he hopes we continue the project, as he believes there is high demand for work-ready training,” says Save, who adds that “receiving positive feedback from participants is always a joyful moment, and that arguably, the sessions would be meaningless if participants did not enjoy or learn something new from it.”
A great outcome
For both Teitinrerei and Save, the overall outcome of the workshops was very positive, both for the participants and for themselves – especially in terms of building their capacity as leaders and providing them with a strong sense of purpose.
“The most enjoyable aspect of the project for me was being able to help and empower others. I have learned that as leaders we have a responsibility to empower our fellow islanders by instilling skills and knowledge that would benefit them in the long term,” says Save.
"It’s always rewarding to see the impact of empowering individuals, especially young adults, with the tools they need to succeed in their careers. We are deeply grateful for this opportunity and we look forward to doing more workshops,” shared the duo.
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Through the WLI Leaders Hub, alumni of the Women’s Developmental Leadership Program like Save and Teitinrerei can apply for and access workplace internships and professional development opportunities, including supported participation in international programs and conferences.