MONROVIA – The Migrants As Messengers (MAM) project, an initiative implemented by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), conducted a four-day capacity building training from February 8th-11th, 2022, at the Boulevard Palace Hotel in Monrovia. The activity aimed to provide Volunteers with the requisite capacity-building skills in career development courses such as Project Management, /Planning, M&E, Communication conflict resolution, etc., for participants to increase their knowledge and skills and be employable. Also, the training prepared the leaders of the newly formed Volunteers-led Association to properly manage the association and continue the awareness-raising campaign on irregular, safe migration and human trafficking in Liberia.
Explaining the rationale of the program, Mr. Siaffa Tamba, the Country Focal Person of Migrants as Messengers project, stated that there is an alarming increase in the attitude of young people to engage in unplanned and ill-prepared migration outside of the country who are lured into this venture out of desperation to overcome the poor socio-economic condition in the country. He noted that reducing irregular migration attributed to this in the country begins with creating youth education and empowerment avenues.
He further stated that as part of a broader initiative to continue the peer-to-peer awareness-raising campaign, “MAM seeks to empower the youth volunteers with skills that will prompt a mass shift from being deprived to where volunteers can benefit from capacity-building initiatives to make a positive difference within their respective communities. Taking concrete steps toward addressing the growing concerns as it relates to the social and economic development of youth through capacity building opportunities to create more skills as well as options to employability, making them agents of change to drastically reduce irregular migration and the high risks associated with it, promoting youth leadership through capacity development initiative is pivotal to transforming the mindset of young people, helping them develop their potential as a way to improve livelihood and help alleviate the surging effects of poverty throughout Liberia”, he said.
Also giving insight into the program, Miss Catheryn Best Kenny-Project Assistant, said the outcomes of the program include that all leaders of the newly established Volunteers Association are trained in a diversity of career development courses and have increased knowledge and practical skills in required courses that will enable them structure and manage the affair of their association.
Speaking on behalf of the participants, the President of the Volunteers Association, Mr. Richard Shasha, said he was excited about the program. He hoped that more of such opportunities are provided to members of his Association and on a broader level for other young people to increase their chances of leading a successful life in such a harsh socioeconomic condition prevalent in the country.
Shasha told our reporter that he was once a victim of unplanned migration out of the country when he was influenced by friends who promised golden opportunities that did not pass and had to suffer under inhumane conditions to please those who held him virtually hostage.
“My brother, sometimes some of these offers, as fake as they may be, are just hard to resist, especially in the situation where things are tough, and there is no way out. Thank God that the MAM program is working out magic; the message is getting out there, and people are getting more information about what is happening outside of this country. The risk people go through traveling in the bushes and deserts to avoid security are things I am not willing for even my worst enemy if I may have to be part of,” Shasha stated.
Ten persons benefited from the training, including; Richard Shasha, Abraham Kromah, Tamba Mills, Sharon Logan, Prince Jack Doe, Nataline P. Hardy, Linda Gaye, Albert Gargar, Joedafil Davies, and Abraham Sackor.
The training exercise was conducted by Madam Lisa Jangai Gbemie, a leading management consultant in the country.
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