By Kondwani Magombo

Lilongwe, June 7, Mana: Members of the communities around Chivutwe Primary School in Mdwala Village in Dowa recently gathered at the school to join hundreds of learners in celebrating a ‘gift’ from the communities’ own youth to the school.

The gift comprised 65 desks renovated by a team of youths who are members of Community Savings and Investment Promotion (COMSIP) Cooperative Union Limited, and they’re benefiting from the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP).

Under the leadership of COMSIP caseworker for the area, Rebecca Munthali, 16 COMSIP groups mobilized and contributed K50, 000 each for the renovation of the desks at Chivutwe School in Traditional Authority (TA) Dzoole B.

“These are groups whose members are beneficiaries of the government Social Protection Programme of Social Cash Transfer (Mtukula pakhomo), and the actual renovation of the desks was done by the youths that were trained in vocational skills by COMSIP, under Youth Skills Challenge Support (YSCS),” she explained.

According to Munthali, the project for the renovation of desks at Chivutwe Primary School was unanimously agreed by the 16 groups upon assessment of various projects that were proposed.

With a total of K800, 000 raised from the COMSIP groups, three COMSIP-trained carpenters from Hope Youth Cooperative led the renovation of the desks at Chivutwe Primary School, using metal frames from the broken desks.

The available cash was used for the procurement of other materials such as timber, nails glue, paint and wood varnish. 

The desks renovation project was led by three YSCS fresh graduates from Hope COMSIP Youth Cooperative namely, Manesi Mikisoni and Christina Kafa, both from Mauni Cluster, and Conelio Chisowa from Nkhathwe Cluster.

To the three, execution of the work was more than putting the acquired skills to practice for perfection as it brought inner satisfaction to have done a service to a community institution.

“This is a task that I did with all my heart in it as a way of thanking COMSIP for everything that the organization has done to my life,” Chisowa said, who hails from Makwani Village, Group village Headman (GVH) Makwani, in TA Dzoole B.

The Father of three joined Mtukula Pakhomo in 2018 and, like many other youths in the 14 districts where SSRLP is being implemented across the country, he was among the first cohort of more than 700 youths who were enrolled under the YSCS programme in 2023.

The first cohort underwent vocational training of various skills from March to June 2023 before each participant got a starter-up package of tools for their particular vocation early December, and a financial boost from COMSIV Limited, a Finance subsidiary of COMSIP Cooperative Union Limited.

According to Chisowa, COMSIP is the reason he, and many youths under the Mtukula Pakhomo, are walking with their heads raised high, sneering at poverty.

“Our courtship with COMSIP began the moment we were enlisted in Mtukula Pakhomo: The organization mobilized us into village savings and loans (VSL) groups and inducted us on financial management,” he explained, he joined Mtukula Pakhomo in 2018.

Chisowa added that, “Regarding the vocational training, I got starter-up tools for carpentry and joinery vocation after graduating, and a loan of K250, 000 from the organization to get me kick-started and with these incentives, my life has completely transformed.”

The other two female carpenters, Mikisoni and Kafa, share similar achievements and they were happy to do their community such a noble service free of charge.

Mikisoni, a youthful mother of three, who hails from Mapondera Village, TA Dzoole B in the district said it had always been her desire to learn carpentry, an inspiration she got from her husband’s friends who are all carpenters.

The young woman’s journey with COMSIP also began in 2018 and she was included in the organization’s Legume Enterprise and Structured Production (LESP).

Mikisoni testifies that over the years, food security at her household has improved and she has the access to other basic needs.

“This year, I have managed to harvest five tonnes of maize, a huge leap from two to two and half trips of ox-carts which I used to harvest before COMSIP’s interventions,” she narrated adding she got a loan from the organization to boost her new trade.

“I got K250, 000 at first, which I used for procurement of planks and other required stuff, and I later on got an additional K90, 000, making a total of K340, 000, and this has enabled me to buy livestock and get my house wired, ready for power installation,” Mikisoni added.

The youth’s good gesture has left community leaders in the area beaming with pride that the youth they’ve raised and seen growing now have the capacity to contribute effectively to the communities they live in.

Cluster Facilitator Chair, Glamson Kachikonga, who was among those in the forefront during the conception and execution of the project, described the renovation of the 65 desks at Chivutwe School as a showcase of the skills that the youth had acquired under the YSCS programme.

“We’re on track in realizing COMSIP’s slogan of Titukule mabanja athu; Titukule dera lathu’ Titukule dziko lathu’ (Let’s develop our household, let’s develop our area, and let’s develop our country),” acknowledged the cluster facilitator, adding: “This demonstrates that we’re, somehow, somewhere regarding developing our households, and we are now developing our area.”

Similarly, Head teacher for the School, Kenneth Mphanda, and Primary Education Advisor for Zone, Francis Kaliati, were both at loss of words with what the COMSIP Cooperative Union members had done to Chivutwe Primary School.

Mphanda rated COMSIP as number one organization working in the area with outcomes that are too visible to ignore.

According to the Head teacher, Chivutwe Primary School, which was located in Mdwala Village, opened its doors in 1994 and, at some point, the school had 130 desks against an enrolment of over 500 learners.

As time passed by, out of the 130 desks, only 43 desks were usable while 87 desks were broken beyond use.

“Without necessarily seeming to be ungrateful, we need more desks and teachers’ houses at this school: COMSIP has demonstrated that it is possible for the community to do it,” the Head teacher said.

The PEA said COMSIP has nailed it by economically empowering a family, the first educational institution in the society, and that the renovation of the desks reveals that members of the community, who are often times deemed poor, have the potential to uplift livelihoods.

GVH Chivutwe summed the whole occasion as “phenomenal” and that COMSIP had revealed how rich members of the community could become if well mentored. 

“I cannot believe that members of the community, among them my very own subjects, through their clusters, can achieve this using funds from their own pockets. This is what we call progress,” Chivutwe said.

COMSIP Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Tennyson Gondwe said it was satisfying that the youthful members of COMSIP Cooperative Union Limited Savings and Loan Groups were now able to give back to their communities.

He said what the youth clusters in Tchawale Zone had done was indicative of the ability to be self-reliant.

“As COMSIP, when we mobilize our members into village savings and loans groups; train the youth and give them starter-up tools and capital grants, we expect them to graduate from poverty and contribute to the development of their communities,” he explained.

“We are happy that the youths are now capable of standing on their own, and we are sure that during the next retargeting processes, they won’t mind being dropped to give room to others.”