Ministry of Youth and Sports supports Young Mothers in the Viseisei Zone.

Introduction:

The Young Mothers project at VSHC was an unintended outcome of the NCD project that has been funded by the Fiji Community Development Project (FCDP). The project is now complete, however the continuation of support continues to grow. We thank the Ministry of Youth and Sports for their unending support to the young mothers and for inviting them to recently participate in a “Food & Beverage and Dining & Room Service Certificate”.  The Food & Beverage and Dining & Room Service certificate will open up opportunities to the Young Mothers for employment, assisting them in being resilient.

Ratu Epi Gonewai, Director Service Pro - far right, Dean of College of Medicine and VSHC
Co-Medical Director - Prof Rajat Gyaneshwar and Health Promotion Officer - Mosese Baseisei 
with the Young mothers of the Viseisei Zone

Support from Stakeholders and Viseisei Sai Health Centre:

Apart from the training facilitated by VSHC, support was sought from various stakeholders such as the Ministry of Social Welfare, Women & Poverty Alleviation,  Ministry of Youth & Sports, District Office, Department of Births and Deaths, I Taukei Affairs and Empower Pacific to name a few. They were invited to participate during the empowerment program workshops that were implemented during the course of the UNDP SCEFI Project.
The reason for their involvement was to promote a healthy setting approach whereby all stakeholders worked towards creating an enabling environment that accelerated the advocacy of Wellness at its best.

Sponsorship from Ministry of Youth:

Tremendous appreciation must go to the Ministry of Youth for recently providing assistance with a one week basic training course on  “Food and Beverage  Service” to 20 young mothers from this group.  They have been blessed as they were tutored by one of the best in the field of tourism studies; Service Pro International. Service Pro has an impeccable record as they also train Turaga ni Koro’s in the Province of Nadroga and Navosa as well as other courses that are relevant in the tourism industry and other lines of work.
The Ministry of Youth has shown its commitment in the training of these women who were previously marginalised, and who are now being empowered to make a difference. This training will give them employable skills and assist them in having the confidence to apply for positions in the tourism industry. The training was followed by a job search and an information session on CV writing and the job application process.