Chronicle Editor
Mkhululi Ncube, Chronicle Reporter
A TOTAL of 127 adolescent girls and young women from Nkayi and Mangwe districts in Matabeleland North and South Provinces have graduated from a three week Girls Mentoring Programme run by World Vision Zimbabwe, meant to empower the disadvantaged girl child.
The training was conducted at the Roman Catholic Church run Empandeni Mission Vocational College in Mangwe District.
Due to the non-availability of a vocational training center in Nkayi, girls and young women from the district had to travel to
Empandeni Mission Vocational Training Centre.
The intensive training covered life skills which include hair-dressing and cosmetology, Hotel and Catering, Clothing and
Technology, Agriculture and Financial Literacy.
World Vision Zimbabwe Girls Mentoring Programme manager Mr Method Ndlovu said the initiative is targeting to transform the girls and young women`s lives by helping them gain knowledge they can use to earn a living.
“We had 40 doing Clothing Technology with 26 coming from Nkayi while 14 came from Mangwe. The other group made of 42 did Cosmetology with 19 from Nkayi and 23 from Mangwe. The third group did Hotel and Catering with 12 coming from Mangwe and 38 from Nkayi meaning we had 78 from Nkayi and 49 for Mangwe. Some of them have children and we allowed them to bring them here so that they are not affected by thinking who to leave their babies with,” said Mr Ndlovu.
He said World Vision Zimbabwe offered similar training to 131 Adolescent girls and young women from Mangwe in July and some of them are already using the skills they gained to earn a living.
Mr Ndlovu said the unavailability of a Vocational Training Centre in Nkayi was hampering efforts to train more girls from the district.
“The project is currently running in the two districts but if you compare the two intakes you will see that Nkayi is behind in terms of numbers. The challenge is that there is no training centre in Nkayi as we still need to train 80 more girls from that district. The girls fund their transport from Nkayi to here and that is a challenge. As a project unfortunately we do not have sufficient resources to transport them. The cost of doing business has gone up as we have to provide inputs and other necessities that they use during the training,” he said.
Mr Ndlovu said they decided to mix the two districts so that the girls and young women are exposed to new environments and people to enhance their training.
He appealed to Government ministries to assist the girls get attachment and even further their skills.
“After this training we are looking at the ministries of Youth, Women affairs and education to assist with attachment so that they continue to learn.
We have also discovered that some of the girls have the potential for financial support from their parents to further their training and we will assist them to secure training to start next year. Above that, we will support them with start-up equipment and tools so that they start using their skills to earn a living. For those into sewing we will put them into groups and get them the machines because some of it is very expensive,” he said.
The programme manager called for the ministries to work closely with the girls so that they are linked to funders and they do not lose out on the training they have gained.
Mangwe District Development Coordinator Ms Rorisang Makhurane hailed World Vision for the Programme which she said complements a myriad of projects that the Second Republic has undertaken to empower marginalised people and regions, as well as achieve gender equality.
She said World vision Zimbabwe could target to use halls dotted in the wards in the two districts to operate from.
“We are looking at industrialisation so that these girls can start employment. We must create hubs for them so that they can create industries using the innovation hubs.
Let us get them attachment so that they continue learning rather than them going back home. From here they should move to gain more practical experience. We must also introduce traditional dishes to our trainings because this is where the country is going because this new generation no longer knows the traditional foods,” she said.
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