The Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sports and Fitness, Abdulla Rafiu, has announced that more than 2,000 youth have successfully completed vocational training through the government's ongoing youth empowerment initiatives.
The Minister shared the milestone while speaking at the "Ahaa"public forum, a joint initiative by the President’s Office and Public Service Media (PSM). He emphasised that the administration is actively assessing job markets across various industries—most notably the booming resort and local tourism sectors—to align training programmes with real-world economic demands in the islands.
To date, a total of 208 targeted training programmes have been conducted nationwide under the National Apprenticeship Program, spanning six primary sectors—tourism, transport, construction, the social sector, fisheries and agriculture, and information technology. According to Minister Rafiu, a significant portion of the graduates have already secured employment in resorts or are successfully running independent operations on their respective islands.
"Focusing on various inhabited islands and resorts, we are conducting numerous training programmes for youth. We will continue these programmes without interruption," Minister Rafiu said.
He added that while operations are currently centred around the Youth Hub in Male’, plans are underway to establish dedicated Youth Hubs in cities across the archipelago to decentralise and streamline on-site training.
The overarching objectives of these nationwide programmes are twofold—to reduce reliance on expatriate labour by cultivating a reliable, skilled domestic workforce, and to empower every young Maldivian to achieve financial self-sufficiency through principled and honest labour.