By Alimamy Conteh Intern-FBC
The Office of Domestic Support Services Agency (ODSSA) in partnership with the Skills Development Fund (SDF) on Friday 2nd December 2022 conferred certificates to 50 of its students, at the first graduation and job fair ceremony held at Saphyre Court Multi-purpose Hall, Brookfields.
Forty-six female and four male students were certified after completing three (3) months of intensive training in House Keeping, Child Care Giving, Hotel Hospitality, Bar and Restaurant Management, Cooking and Waiter Service. ]
According to the CEO of ODSSA, Mrs. Alitu Ansu Katta, the certification ceremony is geared towards promoting and celebrating young men and women in Sierra Leone and creating a platform to help these people thrive despite the challenges they are facing.
“Throughout the three months of training, the students were meticulously taught the basics by well-experienced trainers and were engaged in practical sessions on personal and work ethics, how to manage their finances, time management and how to treat their bosses”, she said.
The Office of Domestic Support Services Agency (ODSSA) established in 2012, is a recruitment agency that focuses on lower and middle-level manpower recruitment for commercial and private support services in Sierra Leone.
Mrs. Katta noted that, the training is to fill the gap between untrained employees that enter this field but do not have the basic training to perform. She assured potential employers who need employees for the above-mentioned jobs. can be rest assured that they now have a crop of trained people that can perform excellently.
“We will be directly involved with these graduates, as they will be in my Agency. When an employer requests for them, we will schedule an interview. This is a way of doing follow-up on the progress of our graduates”, she stated.
The theme for this first graduation and job fair ceremony was, “Achieving dignity and purpose through learning and decent work”.
Keynote speaker at the ceremony, Managing Director of JobSearch, Ms. Edleen Elba congratulated the graduates for their hard work and relentless drive to learn and told them that dignity is achieved first through self. “Each person’s journey to fulfilling their purpose is different. Focus on your journey”, she added..
Mrs. Elba emphasized that doing the right thing, confidentiality, responsibility, respect, honesty and time management are tools that the graduates should have to use to ensure their success in their places of work. She advised the 50 graduates to have in mind that there is life after work.
“Most of us think of our child or children as our pension. What are some of the plans you put in place to maintain your dignity when you get old without depending on your child or children? There is NASSIT. You can ask your boss for guidance on how to register”, she said.
ODSSA through its partnership with the Ministry of Higher Education, received a grant from the World Bank under the bank’s Skills Development Fund (SDF).
Making a statement at the graduation and job fair ceremony, the Specialist for Skills Development Fund, Mr. Salieu Barrie said, it is a proud moment for him to witness a certification ceremony of one of their grantees and congratulated the fifty students that were certified.
“This certificate is a toolkit for you to succeed in your endeavors”, he said. Mr. Barrie added that twenty-two million dollars were given to the Ministry of Tertiary and Higher Education by the World Bank and that sixteen million and five hundred thousand dollars was allocated to the SDF for institutions’ development and that the remaining is for the refurbishment of Universities.
The graduates expressed their overwhelming happiness and treated guests and potential employers with a short skit on sexual harassment in offices and food was served to guests.
Miss. Isatu F. Turay from the Child Care Department said it had been a long time since she had been searching for such an opportunity, as she was a Junior Secondary School dropout. She added that she will use these newly acquired skills to empower herself, so that she will be able to take care of her family.
Mr. James Lansana from the Bar and Restaurant Management said this is the proudest day of his life, because he had given up on education, after he couldn’t make it to the University.
“Education is a process and I have learnt a lot from this training by ODSSA, one of which is Time Management”, he said.
There was no shortage of jubilation among the graduates when the conferment was being done by Mrs. Asmaa James, Mrs. Binta Akibo-Betts, and Mrs. Junerose Johnson.
The ceremony was graced by former IMC Commissioner, CEO and founder of The Owl Newspaper, Alhaji Dauda Bangura.
