THERE are about 158,000 unemployed youth in Northern Mindanao, and a recent agreement of the City Government and an advocacy group vows to end youth unemployment.

Advocacy group Philippine Business for Education (PBEd) and the City Government signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at providing free skills training to the city's youth not in education, employment or training (Neet).

Karol Mark Yee, chief of party of the YouthWorks PH, said that in the first few years of the project, they are targeting at least 1,000 youths in the city to enroll in the program.

Yee said their program is different from other youth-oriented government programs since the training is customized and more specific to the job.

"We will look for private sectors that we can partner. For example, sa fishery sector, sa banks, kailangan ba talaga na graduate ng four years ang lahat ng position dyan? So we will make sure na akma ang training sa trabaho, at hindi tayo time-bound," Yee said in a press conference.

The partnership will identify eligible out-of-school youth in Cagayan de Oro through the city's Cagayan de Oro-Technical Vocational Institute, a training center recently opened to focus on how to address unemployment.

YouthWorks, for its part, will partner with educational institutions and build partnerships with private companies in the city to provide in-company training to the youth.

Yee said they specifically chose to work with Cagayan de Oro, citing the city's promising agriculture, banking and finance, construction, hospitality and tourism, as well as manufacturing sectors.

The city is among the first areas in the country where YouthWorks PH plans to roll out its programs, including Cebu, Davao General Santos, Iloilo, Manila and Zamboanga.

Mayor Oscar Moreno, for his part, lauded the groups behind the project, saying this is another milestone for a competitive city like Cagayan de Oro.

"Cagayan de Oro being the convergence area, we have that role to play to level up further. We have jobstart, literacy program, but this is another program, geared towards helping our out-of-school youth. Salamat for choosing Cagayan de Oro," he said.