Felix Andani Mwambui, 24, from Labani village in Malawi’s northern region district of Chitipa describes himself as a youth capable of meeting his day-to-day needs. He also pays schools fees for two of his late brothers’ children, who are of secondary school age.
A year and a half ago, it was a different story for Mwambui. His routine daily activities were waking up in the morning, wait to be given food, go to the trading centre to chat until dusk, then go back home to eat and then sleep.
Back then Mwambui would spend days to weeks without earning any penny as he was not involved in anything that would earn him money. He did not think he had what it takes to do something worthy in his life. He made a livelihood by begging and spent what he earned on buying airtime for his telephone.
“Growing up, I wanted to be a mechanical engineer but following the death of my father I could not repeat to get good grades, I did not have anywhere to source fees for my education so I gave up and I could not find anything to do in my life, it was over for my dream,” Mwambui said.
But things are changing for him. Although he has not gone back to school to improve his grades, he has found new ways to engage himself while earning a living.
Mwambu’s transformation has been made possible by Action for Adolescent Project (A4A), a project implemented by World Vision with funding from UNICEF.
A4A aims to empower youths, especially those who dropped out of school, in various ways including by helping them explore business opportunities to enable them to become self-reliant and be agents of change in their communities through Youth Ready Clubs.
Since Mwambui joined Lusubiro Youth Ready Club in October 2016, he says that his association with the club has impacted him in more ways than one.
“From the time I joined the club to date I have learnt a lot,” he said.
His active participation in the youth club exposed him to money-making schemes.
“I got encouraged to embrace activities that can earn me money and then I also learned the culture of saving the little I started earning through Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) and that has helped transform my life,” Mwambui said.
Through savings from VSLA, which was shared among members in December last year, Mwambui managed to buy four bags of fertilizer and he now owns a one and half acre maize garden. He also has groundnuts and sunflower gardens.
He hopes to earn more after harvesting and selling his crops and has set his eyes on becoming a well-established farmer.
“I have realized that there is money in farming and I would like to seize the opportunity and become a full-time farmer. I would like to urge my fellow youths in the country that there is future in farming amid increasing unemployment rates,” Mwambui said.
About 1000 youths like Mwambui who were targeted have benefitted from the project. Some own different businesses while others apart from owning their businesses are helping empower fellow youths through skills development.
Josephine Msako, 22, from Amon village in the area of Traditional Authority Mwaulambya in Chitipa is one of them. She grew up with an ambition to serve people through a nursing career.
However, her dream to become a nurse was truncated by poor grades in secondary school.
“After performing badly, I wanted to repeat the last grade so I can improve my grades to qualify for college so that I can pursue my career,” Msako said. “However, I failed to do so as my mother could not afford to raise the MK9, 000 (around US$12) fees required and even I could not afford as I did not have anything to do.”
Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Msako took the initiative to seek out opportunity through other means. She approached an older lady in tailoring business and asked to be trained with the hope that the skill will enable her to venture out on her own.
After her tailoring training, Msako was in 2017 approached and asked to be a mentor by imparting her tailoring skills to those aspiring to have the skill for free so that they too can become economically empowered. Without hesitation, she took on the responsibility.
“In 2017, I trained three youths, a boy and two girls and this year I am planning to teach at least five,” she said.
The success stories that have been registered through the A4A project is being hailed as a viable way of investing in Malawian youths, especially those in rural communities.
According to the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, young people in Malawi who constitute 70 percent of the country’s population, continue to face challenges in the labor market.
As of last year, the ministry’s statistics indicated that youth unemployment in the country was at 23 percent while national unemployment was at 21 percent.
In most cases, many of the unemployed youths indulge in unruly behaviors like alcohol and substance abuse and early marriages.
Nkhangwa Church of Central African Presbyterian (CCAP) pastor who has been facilitating activities of Lusubiro Youth Ready Club, Reverend Wisdom Mwale, said that since the coming in of the A4A project which ran between 2016 and 2017 things have changed in the area.
“I have seen a lot of benefits from these members. This area is an area where early marriage was so rampant because it is a remote area and girls were impregnated and could lose hope but as we went on with training them, some who were impregnated are going back to school [while] others are embracing entrepreneurship,” he said.
He explained that the boys at risk of alcoholism and substance abuse have also been impacted positively.
“The youths have also learned a culture of saving through VSLA, which has enabled many to start small-scale businesses,” Mwale said.
The club members also take initiative to reach out to other youths who are not members through charitable works that benefit the communities where they live, according to Mwale.
“The approach that has been taken by the A4A project is the viable way of investing in the youths because they have been taken from the grassroots and are being trained to move forward,” Mwale said.