Table 3: Policies, Acts and Strategies addressing Gender and Sexual Issues No Policy, Programme and/or Strategy 1 National Gender Strategic Plan (NGSP) 2010-2013 2 Sexual Offences Act 2012 3 Domestic Violence Act 2007 4 Devolution of Estates Act 2007 5 Customary and Divorce Act 2009 6 Matrimonial Causes Bill 2004 7 National Policy on Gender Mainstreaming 2000 and ongoing 8 Policy on the Advancement of the Status of Women (CEDAW) 2006 and up to date OBJECTIVE 8: Promoting the Rights of Children and Young Persons 3.20 Enactment of the National Youth Service Act 2016 to Aid Employment In order to practically and proactively address the problem of youth’s unemployment, Parliament on Tuesday 2nd February 2016 passed the Bill titled the National Youth Service Act 2016, being an act to establish the National Youth Service and to provide for other related matters. The objective of the bill is to establish the National Youth Service Scheme to train graduates in order to better serve the nation. The function of the Service scheme is to: • Generate national consciousness and discipline in service corps by instilling in them a tradition of patriotism, loyalty, integrity, duty and service to the nation; • Provides skills training and personal development programmes and activities for service corps • Initiate, plan, organize, fund , manage, administer and control programmes and activities for the development of service corps • Inculcate youth volunteerism and civil responsibilities among the service corps; • Develop in the service corps the fortitude of mind 32 Year of inception/ revision and moral competence required for leadership; • Enable the service corps to acquire the capacity to be self-reliant by encouraging them to develop skills for employment; • Develop cross cultural integration among service corps • Do such other things so as to attain the object stated in the subsection (1) The National Youth Service is the first of its kind in the Mano River Union and will serve as a platform of transformation of the youth, provides a reserved force, provides jobs and job experience and a competent national workforce noted by the Commissioner of the national Youth Commission, Mr. Anthony Koroma. He informed that the NYS includes: 1. National Youth Service Scheme 2. Youth National Award Scheme and a 3. National Community Service Volunteer Scheme Adding that university and college graduates will not be serving in their districts of origin. He went on to state that young people in the service will be given a three week orientation and also provide midterm train- APRM Sierra Leone | Annual Progress Report