PESHAWAR: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government has introduced a Kamyab Jawan Programme to provide employment and business opportunities to the youth in the country.

The programme will help youths and fresh college and university graduates to find jobs and contribute to national development.

Hundreds of thousands of youths, fresh graduates and post graduate students of Khyber Pakthunkhwa and erstwhile Fata are set to benefit from this programme.

“The programme is a great blessing for the youth of Pakistan especially of Khyber Pakthunkhwa. I belong to a middle-class family and will apply along with my friends for it shortly [after] it is formally unfolded by the Prime Minister,” said Ehtisham Khan, a Bachelor of Science student at the Urdu Department of Government College, Peshawar.

“The applications of most of graduated youths seeking employment in public and private sectors were rejected due to lack of experience and the internship programme under this programme would help provide great opportunities to youth to get required experiences along with monetary support,” he added.

Like Khan, many youths of Khyber Pakthunkhwa and erstwhile Fata are ready to apply for this programme after it is formally launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan next month.

What does the programme do?

Under this programme, the government will provide loans worth Rs100 billion (Dh2.3 billion) to youth for five years in different projects, and education, skill training, entrepreneurship and civic engagements.

The programme comprises of two categories. In the first, the youth would be provided loans from Rs100,000 to Rs500,000 to start their own business in areas of their choice while in the second category, loans up to Rs5 million will be provided.

The guarantee of a third person for acquisition of loans has been abolished and youths can directly secure loans from National Bank, Bank of Khyber and Bank of Punjab directly in the first phase under the programme. More than 500,000 youth will be given soft loans under the Kamyab Jawan Programme.

Six initiatives

The programme comprises six flagship initiatives — Youth Entrepreneurship scheme, Skill for All Programme, Startup Pakistan, Green Youth Movement, Internship Programme and Jawan Markaz for socioeconomic empowerment of youth.

Under the Youth Entrepreneurship Scheme, the government will provide subsidised business loans to aspiring entrepreneurs for the promotion of the small and medium entrepreneurship sector.

The PTI-led Government under the Skill for All Programme will impart technical and vocational training to about 150,000 youth, both in conventional and high-end trades.

Likewise, extensive training will be provided to young entrepreneurs under the Start-up Pakistan Programme to help them conceive, incubate and mature their business plans through access to digital incubation platforms.

Under the Green Youth Movement, small grants will be provided to youths to bring economic, innovative solutions to tackle environmental and climate change challenges.

The government would provide professional training to undergraduate and postgraduate students under the programme, which will help get required experience and vocational training to compete at the national and international level especially in the private sector.

The Jawan Markaz, a one-stop solution for youth-related issues at the grass roots level, will provide access to sports and other youth engagement activities besides opportunities for career counselling, mentoring and access to a host of digital services.

A framework of National Youth Development Strategic Road map had been completed and National Youth Council had been set up. It was expected that around one million youth of the country would gain maximum benefits of the Kamyab Jawan Programme in its first phase.