Chronicle Editor
Michael Magoronga
EIGHTY youths from Kwekwe District who recently completed various vocational training courses have received starter packs to enable them to start their own business initiatives.
191 youths from Kwekwe and Redcliff completed various courses courtesy of the Government through the Ministry of Youth, Sports, Arts and Recreation in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP) whose implementation partners were Plan International.
Kwekwe City Council, Redcliff Municipality and Kwekwe Polytechnic among other institutions played a key role in the training of the youths who graduated in courses ranging from metal fabrication, garment construction, baking and cosmetology among others.
The 80, which are the first cohort to receive the starter packs, received equipment such as welding machines, wheelbarrows, building equipment, sewing machines, stoves and baking material among other equipment.
The initial Urban Social Assistance (USA), which targeted 22 000 people from Kwekwe and Redcliff, was designed to enhance vulnerable households’ access to cash needed to purchase household food requirements in urban settlements at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The program ran for an initial six months before being extended for another 11 months.
After the Covid-19 era, the USA transitioned into the Urban Resilience Building programme which however benefitted a limited number of people.
Ministry of Youth Kwekwe District Development Coordinator, Mrs Nyaradzo Ndlovu said equipment was sourced after the realisation that the youths were idle even after graduating.
“These courses were a result of the Urban Resilience Program (URP) which we were doing with our partners who were giving the youths and families money during the height of Covid-19. But we later realised that it was better to equip the youths together with other women and men with lifelong skills that would benefit them for the rest of their lives,” she said.
After graduating, a significant number of the youths were not utilising the skills they had acquired due to lack of equipment hence the idea of starter packs.
“We then liaised with our partners and they managed to acquire this machinery that you are seeing today. This is the first batch that is receiving the equipment since we have more than 100 youths who graduated in various courses,” said Mrs Ndlovu.
She said the development will go a long way in eradicating drug and substance abuse as well as economically empowering the recipients.
Midlands Province Area Manager for Plan International, Mrs Laina Matsikiti said the development was part of their Youth Economic Empowerment pillar which speaks to skills outreach for the youths.
She said this was the first programme to be implemented in the urban areas.
Mrs Matsikiti said the URP project is meant to improve food security and sustainable resilience capacities to effectively withstand shocks in Kwekwe urban.
“Through this project, we are happy to celebrate the empowerment of youths, particularly girls and women who are our prime mandate and priority.
“Young people should be resilient so as to brighten their future and shun the worm of drug and substance abuse that is slowly but surely destroying young people and inevitably destroying the future of our beautiful nation,” she said.
Mrs Matsikiti said the youths are now expected to grow their incomes and improve their food security status and resilience capacities.
“It is our hope that the young people who have interacted with this project and are now receiving start up kits today will use these skills and kits to transform their lives and become better citizens,” she said.
Kwekwe District does not have a vocational training centre hence the use of other tertiary institutions to empower youths and women with various life changing skills.
Online Reporter