Online Reporter
Isaac Waniwa, [email protected]
A YOUTH organisation in the heart of Nkulumane suburb in Bulawayo is empowering the youths by imparting skills through its self-designed learning model.
SwiZim Trust, a non-profit making organisation which started operating in 2020, is running courses in welding, carpentry, baking, basket making, catering, hairdressing and other such courses meant to impart skills to youths from Nkulumane and surrounding suburbs.
Under its Define Education for Yourself (Defy), the organisation is providing materials, tools and mentorship to youths who come up with their own innovative ideas of projects they intend to work on.
This enables the youths to discover their innovative potential which is then perfected with the assistance of mentors.
This has seen the youths coming up with brilliant ideas that are providing solutions to some of the challenges facing their respective communities.
A total of 50 youths are enrolled on each circle to undergo a three-month basic skills training and about 260 youths have so far been trained.
Some of the youths are already earning a living from their newly acquired skills but the outcry from the graduates and their trainers is for the training to go beyond the three months.
The institutions of higher learning such as the National University of Science and Technology (Nust), Westgate Vocational Training Centre, Bulawayo Polytechnic and other such institutions have been challenged to assist SwiZim to make its skills training programme sustainable.
The SwiZim programmes officer, Mr Peace Gumbo said due to limited resources, the institution could only offer three months basic skills training which he said can be further developed.
He said the youths were coming up with brilliant innovative ideas and producing products of high quality hence the calls for institutions of higher learning to assist in developing the skills further.
The Bulawayo National Aids Council programmes officer, Mr Douglas Moyo said there is an urgent need to ensure SwiZim’s skills training programme is sustainable.
He said the skills obtained by the youths should not be allowed to go to waste and as such Nust and other institutions of higher learning should intervene.
Mr Moyo and other members of the NAC Media Tour were highly impressed by a folding screen door designed by one of the students. They said such ingenuity should not be allowed to go down the drain.
Mr Gumbo said the organisation was also assisting single mothers, pregnant teenagers, child-headed families and other vulnerable children with resources such as preparation kits, food and other such requirements.
After the tour of the institution and engaging workers, what came out clear is that while SwiZim is doing marvellous work to lessen the burden on the Nkulumane community, there is no buy-in from the community.
According to Mr Gumbo and his team, the community has not embraced or taken ownership of the institution despite the wonderful work it is doing to empower and assist the youths to be productive and responsible citizens.
It was therefore recommended that SwiZim consider appointing some of the community leaders to its board of directors so that they assist to mobilise the community to support the organisation.
