By Vincent Gunde
DOWA-(MaraviPost)-There is Hope, a local organization that runs a vocational training programme in Dowa, is set to implement a 2-year Solar Photovoltaic Installation vocational education training project in Dowa district.
The project is being privately funded by the Petra Family from Germany through Welthungerhilfe (WHH).
The project aims to train 45 vulnerable refugee and Malawian young adults in the ages of 18 to 40 years including People with disabilities.
The organization’s Communications Coordinator, Isaac Msiska, said the project has a goal of facilitating equal access to female and male students and those living in remote rural areas including marginalized groups such as refugees, people with disabilities and women.
Msiska said the project will promote environmental conservation through the provision of a renewable energy course saying will be achieved through the project pillars such as offering TEVET training including post training support, infrastructure equipment and training support, sensitization campaigns and advocacy and research or needs assessment.
He said the project is expected to register some remarkable outcomes such as promoting a sense of dignity among vulnerable people, promoting integration, reduce stigma and discrimination, improving livelihoods of poor people, support women empowerment and promoting resilience of refugees to adapt to new situation.
Msiska further said that according to World Bank report, only 11.4 percent of the Malawian population is connected to electricity hence the need for solar photovoltaic installation skills to respond to the present demand on the labour market.
He said that refugees and people with disabilities are excluded from vocational education due to poverty, mobility challenges, lack of support and Malawi’s restrictive national policies.
“Dowa has only one Community Technical College against a population of 772,000 in the district. Furthermore, only 28.6 percent of females were enrolled in Technical Colleges between 2018 and 2019. All these mean that there is need for women and youth empowerment through TEVET for marketable skills,’’ said Msiska.
The Solar Photovoltaic Installation course is being funded through a grant of Euro 200,000. The project will run from November 2021 to October 2023.
WHH is an international NGO working in 39 countries acrossthe globe. WHH’s focuses on skills development, agriculture, nutrition, WASH and humanitarian aid. In Malawi, WHH is presently working with 11 partners including There is Hope.
