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Community initiative trains youths to fight poverty, marriages
Malawi initiative trains 90 youths in various skills to reduce poverty and early marriages-Victor Musongole.
Malawi-The Community Hope Initiative Malawi has provided skills training to 90 youths in tailoring, bricklaying, and hairdressing in the Kavula area of Enukweni, under Traditional Authority Mtwalo in Mzimba, with the aim of reducing poverty, early marriages, and improving their standard of living, writes Victor Musongole.
The project, which started in 2021, is supported by Stitching Africa and Wild Geese Netherlands.
Stanly Gumbo said, "After the training in 2021, I built several houses for other people, and this has improved my economic status. I have bought 7 goats and some pigs, which also help me economically.”
Langston Kasambala, who is expected to finish his tailoring training this March, said, "I have already registered some changes after I started practising my trade."
Tapiwa Nyambose, who was trained in hairdressing in 2021, said, "Before this training, I was just staying at home with nothing to do, but after I was trained, I opened my own hairdressing salon, where I make enough money on a daily basis. I have also opened a grocery store, where I employed someone to manage it on my behalf. I am able to pay my bills from the proceeds."
Community Hope Initiative Malawi has given women more power to participate in village savings and loans through the same project.
Janet Kasambala, a recipient of the VSLs, claims that her life has improved as a result of the VSL because she was able to purchase land and construct a home.
"After the training, I realized the value of budgeting and the effectiveness of teamwork. I was able to purchase a plot and have since constructed a home there. I purchased two bags of fertilizer last year for this rainy season, and it appears that I will have a good crop this year. With the same money, I also purchased some livestock, which will help my family and me financially,” Kasambala stated in a conversation with AfricaBrief.
According to Mapulanga Francisco Vitsitsi, executive director of Community Hope Initiative Malawi, the group started the skills training project after observing the struggles that many young people in the area were facing after abandoning their education due to peer pressure or a lack of financial support.
"We developed a variety of vocational training programmes to empower the local youth. Due to the various skills we have given the local youth, our arrival has empowered them. Women were also trained in VSL management, and with those who began in 2021, we have seen progress,” Vitsitsi said.
Similar initiatives are being carried out in Namitete in Lilongwe by Community Hope Initiative Malawi.