By Memory Chatonda:
Soon after finishing his education at Chiwale Community Day Secondary School in 2015, Vincent Chirwa from Chifenthe Village in the area of Traditional Authority Dambe in Neno struggled to enroll in a tertiary institution to pursue his career.
Chirwa says his parents who depended on small scale farming mostly for food, could not afford to raise his tuition fees.
“All along, I wanted to enroll in a technical college to learn electrical installation due to poor financial muscle, I could not pursue my career,” says 26-year-old Chirwa.
Out of desperation, the first born son in a family of four says he started searching for casual work in the farms of well-off neighbours to raise money to support his education.
Surprisingly, he says after toiling for almost two years, the total income generated was K50, 000, not even enough to pay tuition fee for a semester.
“As a result, I decided to use the money to venture into poultry farming, raising hybrid chickens for sale. I bought six day old chicks and feed supplements,” he says, adding: “But after practicing poultry farming for almost two years, I could not make any profit. With this, I gave up in life.”
Chirwa’s plight reflects the predicament of many youths in Malawi.
As a matter of fact, the International Labour Organization 2019-2020 estimates that over 70 percent of Malawian youths are without employment.
Such a huge unemployed youth population presents challenges in the country as they are susceptible to immoral behaviours such as drug and substance abuse and also crimes like burglary and theft.
Concerned with the vulnerability of youths in Malawi, however, President Lazarus Chakwera, during the campaign trail in 2019 promised to introduce the National Youth Service (NYS) programme to ensure that the youth like Chirwa changed their mindset and acquire specialised training in various fields.
Launching the NYS programme in July this year in Neno, therefore, Chakwera said the programme seeks to empower vulnerable youths so that they become a national asset ready to serve the nation and create employment for others.
With an allocation of K3.5 billion in the 2022/2023 national budget, the programme targets 20,000 young people across the country in all constituencies per year. The fund is expected to adjust to K20 billion for the next year’s activities.
Apart from equipping them with specialized skills in agriculture (crop, livestock, fish and poultry production), information, communications and technology, carpentry and joinery, welding and fabrication, tailoring and designing and also renewable technologies, the youth will also receive start-up capital to get established in businesses.
Chirwa was privileged to benefit from the programme. He, together with other 150 youths were registered in an informal three months agri-business enterprise training in July this year at Neno Integrated Youth Development Centre to acquire business skills.
He testifies that since his enrollment at the centre, he has acquired vast business skills in agriculture, in poultry farming to be precise.
“We were encouraged to take farming as a business. So, we learnt improved farming methods, record keeping and poultry management, in general.
“Very soon, we will be graduating from this training institution and I plan to use my start-up capital to buy at least five hybrid broiler chickens (sasso broiler chicken) for eggs only.
“I am optimistic that every-day, I shall be able to collect three trays of eggs to sell at K4, 000 each tray. I hope that time shall come when I shall be able to get at least K360, 000 in a month after selling 90 trays of eggs,” he envisages.
To this effect, Chirwa believes NYS has come as an alternative to his failed dream of becoming an electrician.
“I see myself becoming an entrepreneur someday because my life is not the same as it was before enrolling at the centre courtesy of the National Youth Service programme,” he brags.
Neno District Youth Officer, Hope Mwafulirwa, on the other hand underscores the significance of the programme in empowering vulnerable youths economically.
Mwafulirwa says apart from the beneficiaries of the programme being equipped with business skills in agriculture, they are also being drilled in Information, Communication and Technology (ICT).
“We want them to learn how to use a computer to surf the internet to help them market their products internationally and in turn yielding maximum proceeds,” he says.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Richard Chimwendo Banda emphasises: “The uniqueness of this programme is that every Malawian youth regardless of qualification and political affiliation should be considered.
“We need to strengthen their skills in either vocational or entrepreneurial part to make them productive.”
With the National Youth Service programme in force, there is hope that Malawian youths like Chirwa will become a national treasure ready to contribute positively towards building a new Malawi.
