By Doreen Kachingwe

Phalombe, April 28, Mana: Churches Action in Relief and Development (CARD) in partnership with TEVETA on Friday awarded 75 youths from Traditional Authority Nazombe in Phalombe with certificates after completing various technical vocational skills training.

CARD Consultant, Mwayiwawo Chitsamba told Malawi News Agency that the technical vocational skills training is under a project called; ‘Girls Get Equal’ and targets youths in rural areas as a way of empowering them to be productive and self-dependent for a sustainable livelihood.

He therefore said it is important to provide technical and vocational skills such as tailoring, welding, phone repairing, carpentry and electronics among others to youths in Malawi to attain a productive generation.

“This project was implemented to empower youths in rural areas. A research by TEVETA showed that many youths in rural areas including Phalombe have nothing to do, so we joined hands with a partner, PLAN Malawi and come up with this project to help them to be self-dependent," he added.

Chitsamba said that the certificates award was a way of congratulating the youths, adding that some of the youths had already started utilizing the skills and were doing better after the technical and vocational training.

Community Development Officer for Phalombe, Sydney Nkata applauded CARD for the youth project, saying the project also benefited other people in the district as the trained youths (both male and females) were creating jobs opportunities for others.

One of the awardees in tailoring, Vero Kaiwe said Girls Get Equal project transformed her life and described it a “game changer” for most of young people that had opportunity to acquire the technical and vocational skills.

"I bought land, goats and am planning to build my own house next year. I therefore encourage every youth to embrace this project to turn dreams into realities," she said.

District Youth Officer, Halson Bulangete said was looking forward to more youth programmes in Phalombe to transform more youths into productive citizens.