“Skills and Entrepreneurship Development Programme in Arts and Media for Youths” (SEDAM) is a programme designed to enhance the skills and develop the entrepreneurship capabilities of youths in the field of ARTS (music, performance, literature, sculpture, painting and  other related spheres of arts)  and MEDIA (specifically mass media in communication whether written, broadcast, or spoken, that reaches a large audience. This includes television, radio, advertising, movies, the internet, newspapers, magazines, and so forth). It is an integrated empowerment programme designed to enable youths improve the necessary skills that enables them access employment opportunities or become independent entrepreneurs.

Skills gap cause unemployment and makes young people unprepared for work and life. Low-skilled individuals face challenges in taking advantages of employment opportunities in their communities and are mostly out-of-job, or access only temporary employments with remuneration that are not commensurate to their efforts. Inadequate labour skills stems from illiteracy (inadequate information about one’s profession) and one of the outcomes is unemployment. Illiteracy and unemployment are some of the core causes of poverty and financial disparity and inequality in every society. Employers of labour have little or no space for low-skilled workers hence limiting their chances of getting paid jobs, which only increase rate of poverty in any society. Low-skilled workers likewise have little or no chance of succeeding during wage negotiations because what they offer  employers are not competitive and can easily be substituted.

Recent realities have shown evidences that technology will play significant role in replacing even the most skilled labour in the 21^st century, a situation, which only further diminishes and stifles the chances of unskilled labourer down the ranking of employment priorities. It is therefore of utmost importance that every job seeker enhance their skills in order to remain relevant and attractive to employers while exploring job opportunities in the 21^st century. Job retention can also be guaranteed when an employee’s skills remains relevant and attractive to employers.

SEDAM is an integrated empowerment initiative that help reduce unemployment, raise incomes, and improve standards of living. The programme focus also include the development the entrepreneurial abilities of youths to enable them run institutions effectively and become employers of labour, thereby contributing to the enhancement and sustenance of structured business sectors in Arts and Media.

SEDAM is a programme done through training and workshops to expose youths and equip them with all the necessary skills that will help them succeed in life, especially in media and art. The programme focuses on skilling and re-skilling of artists as well as practitioners and entrepreneurs in arts and media. These skills when acquired will help them position and align them with the national strategy of diversification of the Nigerian economy.

 The scope of SEDAM are;

1. Skills Enhancement
2. Entrepreneurship Development
3. Specialized Training of Trainers (STOTs)
4. Media and Arts Technology Training, Conferences and Workshops

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