South Sudan’s Minister of Interior jointly with the Country Director of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has made an inspection visit at the vocational center in the National Central Prison in Juba.
Speaking on Thursday, Interior Minister Michael Chiengiek Geay said the whole idea is to make inmates productive rather than just punishing them for their crimes. He stresses that this will help the inmates to demonstrate their skills in the society.
“This visit in fact is making me to acquaint myself with the activities happening in the prison department,” said Minister Chiengiek while also thanking UNDP and also urging the other development partners to join hands to help the country.
The vocational training center provides training in eight disciplines, namely, carpentry, masonry, electrical, welding, vehicle mechanics, agriculture, hair dressing and tailoring.
UNDP Vocational Training Centre in Juba Central Prison was established as a coordinated effort of UNDP, Police, Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Labour and Human Resource Development.
The UN agency’s Country Director Kamil Kamaluddeen told the gathering during the visit, “This is a monitoring visit, to see the progress that our joint project is making. The overall idea is to focus on skills and to advance the shared objective of developing people into active and constructive agents in the society.”