By Fostina Mkandawire

Salima, November 6, Mana: After seating for the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) many are hopeful to find an opportunity to be selected into public universities or technical colleges, for some the latter seems like a far-fetched dream and unattainable.

Communities in Salima District are speaking highly of the Climate Smart Enhanced Public Works Programme for opening doors of job opportunities through employment such as forepersons and digitizers, informal employments that do not need higher qualifications such as a university paper.

In Salima district, under the CSEPWP about 136 forepersons have been employed who are custodians of catchments and provide technical guidance to participants of the project.

One of the forepersons, Elise Standwell from Mtende Village Traditional Authority Khombedza who is working under Mchepa catchment, describes her work under the CS-EPWP as elevating because after she wrote her Malawi School Certificate of Education in 2012 she has been employed.

"Being employed as a foreperson has given me an opportunity to gain experience on how to manage people, how to manage tree nurseries and environmental restoration activities and putting documents in order such as registering participants everyday after working at project sites," she says.

She echoes how beneficial the employment has been to her after remembering how unskillful she was when she was being employed 2 years ago.

Standwell reveals that her confidence has been boosted, after undergoing various capacity building trainings, such as tree and nursery management, social safeguards modalities, catchment and management trainings, citing the vitality of the skill set she has gained so far.

Another Foreperson from Lilongwe catchment Enita Alfred, in the area of Senior Chief Kalonga agrees with her colleague stating that being employed under the CSEPWP has been a morale booster for her, because she had been jobless and hopeless after writing her MSCE, a situation which has changed at the moment.

"My daily responsibility under the CSEPWP include supervising participants, ensuring that they are following stipulated standards and not delivering substandard work, my livelihood has improved because the wages that I receive help me to sustain my family's day to day needs," she says.

Limbani Nthala, Foreperson from Mchepa catchment underscores that despite lacking formal certifications, he has honed his leadership skills through hands on experience and on-the-job training, earning him the respect from the participants in the environmental public works program.

"I have natural ability to communicate effectively, paired with my keen problem-solving skills, enables me to manage my team and navigate complex project challenges. I believe in collaboration because it fosters a positive work environment," he says.

He says it is encouraging to note that valuable skills can be cultivated through experience and dedication, rather than solely through formal education.

District Labour Officer for Salima, Lanwell Mkisi confirms that Salima District Council through the CSEPWP has employed about 136 forepersons and 52 digitizers and this has reduced unemployment rate in the district.

"Individuals who happen to get a chance of employment, in an informal way, if well executed, after completion of all circles, they will have gained experience, in leadership, and practical or hands on type of working," he explains.

Mkisi says it is expected that the gained experience will be used when applying for formal jobs or transitioning to formal jobs. These forepersons lead a very large groups of participants, that require someone to have some attributes like how to manage people, so the skills will help them greatly.

"Such employment arrangements help to alleviate poverty in the sense that these forepersons will now have a buying power, the money earned will first of all help them as individuals to meet some basic needs like food, clothes, paying school fees and some do invest as well," he says.

On this point he says another advantage of the CSEPWP set up is that the forepersons are scattered across the district which means that there is well distribution of resources across the district.

According to the International Labour Organization the informal employment provides employment opportunities, especially within developing countries, to those who do not have employment security, work security and social security.

CS-EPWP is a component under the Social Support for Resilient Livelihoods Project (SSRLP). The SSRLP is a Malawi Government project, funded by the Multi Donor Trust Fund facilitated by the National Local Government Finance Committee in all the 28 district councils.