To the Future and Beyond: Ingazi's Vision
It is official! Ingazi has launched! The million-dollar question now is “what’s next?” Before we explore that question, let’s take a few steps back.
During the testing phase of the platform with high school students and university graduates one question kept coming up; “Have you consulted employers and asked them what they are looking for in young job applicants.” This was a valid question, after all, employers are in the best position to define the skill gaps within their sectors. With this and more questions in mind, we brought together youth led organizations and key industry players. We wanted them to participate in aligning Ingazi’s content and career strategies with the industry needs.
Why youth led organizations? Members of these organizations have made the school to work transition and established or led organizations. They are in a great place to reflect on the gaps and challenges encountered when making that jump. They could also use the sessions to voice challenges and recommend courses and opportunities that could be availed on the platform. On the other hand, the workshop with key industry players convened delegates across different sectors working in staff development (HR), capacity building, and youth empowerment. After sharing our content mapping and careers strategy, we were given ideas on needs assessment approaches, identification of content providers, quality assurance approaches, and career pathways. With all these tools collected through community engagement and a new and fun website developed, we created an arsenal and got ready for the launch. This launch took place on the 26th of May 2024 at Serena Hotel Kigali. Watch the event highlights and the official Ingazi unveiling video on our social platforms @ingazi_official.
Beyond fun and good vibes, we must bring you all in on what Ingazi’s future looks like. Our current big focus is the Ingazi Career Hub. By the end of Q3 of 2024, we hope to have a fully functioning career hub that serves as a gateway for young people to translate the skills they have acquired from Ingazi's courses into real-world career opportunities. Through the hub, young people will be able to create professional portfolios, explore career pathways, access mentorship opportunities, participate in workshops and seminars, and browse job listings among other career development tools.
The career profile feature will be AI powered to enable young users to create professional portfolios which detail their educational background, professional experience and any other relevant skills. This feature will also enable young people to upload samples of their work which will further strengthen the credibility of their profiles. Recruiters or talent seekers will be able to access the Ingazi professional profiles for their sourcing needs.
The career pathways guidance will provide young people with sector-specific information on career pathways including the ideal trajectory which should be taken, available opportunities on Ingazi and beyond, and opportunities which can be tapped into at each stage.
The career opportunities feature will also be AI driven and will automatically pull available career advancement opportunities that are available on various platforms including mentorship, internships, volunteering and job opportunities, as well as entrepreneurial support/financing initiatives that they can tap into.
For the Ministry of Youth and Arts, the Ministry of Public Service and Labor, UNICEF Rwanda and Generation Unlimited, who are implementing this platform for youth in Rwanda, the main goal is to link course completion to career opportunities! Ingazi is here to equip young people with the skills required to thrive in the workplace, and to bridge the gap between young people in Rwanda, and career growth opportunities. This is a call for all young people making the school to work transition, to start taking as many courses as possible on Ingazi, that way, once the career hub is live, they are better positioned to qualify for competitive opportunities.
A huge thank you to everyone that has supported Ingazi up to this point. For those who are anxiously waiting for more information, please visit our social media pages and get all the regular updates.
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