The National Service Scheme has launched an online platform named "Flair" in order to guarantee that more national service individuals learn employable skills and become gainfully employed or start their own businesses, hence lowering the unemployment rate.
Flair is an employment portal that also allows user agencies to seek graduates with certain skills or training to perform national service on their behalf.
The site also provides stakeholders with skill matching information, such as degree of study or occupation, as well as a data repository that contains information on both national service individuals and user agencies.
Mr Osei Assibey Antwi, one of the NSS's Executive Directors, made the announcement during a user agency stakeholder conference at the University of Ghana's Cedi Conference Hall in Accra.
The day's conference, titled "Partnership for Efficient Service Delivery," drew nearly 1,000 leaders from private organizations and industries that employ national service people.
Similar seminars on the new vision and platform have already been held for all tertiary educational institutions around the country.
The user agencies, according to Mr. Osei Assibey, are formidable partners in the national service scheme's aim of "Deployment for Employment." The National Service Scheme recently unveiled its new concept of "Deployment for Employment," which differs from its former objective of just deploying troops. It has also hosted meetings.
on its new vision with the Ghana Employers Association and the Ghana Industries Association.
Mr. Osei Assibey stated that the NSS had made the decision to work closely with user agencies and other partners to ensure that the one-year national service time was utilised wisely to offer top-up training for graduates.
This, he continued, was to guarantee that service men serving in other organizations got skills that would enable them to find work, while the NSS, through its multiple modules, was also providing skills to a large number of individuals.
"Because of the economic downturn, a paradigm shift from only deploying employees for a year to an organization that provides permanent work possibilities as well as entrepreneurial and employment skills for kids has become required."
Mr. Osei Assibey Antwi has declared that the unemployment rate is rising.
He explained that the new move was intended to reposition the scheme in order to keep some of its personnel after they completed their national service, as well as to ensure that those who went out into the workforce were capable and ready to start their own businesses, employ others, or be employed.