KCTT Program: Umoyo Training Centre
Continued Support to Umoyo Program and Capacity Building
Lusaka, Zambia
Background
Umoyo Training Centre is based on a strategy that addresses both the immediate and practical needs of young women. The centre provides skills for income generation, literacy and numeracy, HIV/AIDS awareness and psychological needs such as self-confidence, self reliance and ethical training that is critical in assisting the orphaned and other vulnerable female youths cope with difficult social and economic circumstances.
A key component of the strategy is "learning by doing" in terms of training and methodology. All the youth are actively involved in the day-to-day operation of the centre to learn specific skills and to ensure that the centre runs smoothly. The methodology underlying the activities and forms of organization has been designed to give youth as much authority as possible for planning, organization and implementation. This is intended to encourage self-confidence, responsibility, initiative and accountability for the success of activities.
The Residential Program is designed in such a way that the girls are in-touch with the community and their guardians as much as possible. For example, girls go home every month. This gives them a chance to compare what is happening in the community with what they learn at the Centre, it also makes the girls feel a part of the community.
There have been various responses to address the issue of orphans and other vulnerable children by the community, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as well as government departments. Kara Counselling and Training Trust through Umoyo Training Centre responded by providing a caring and enabling residential program for female orphans and other vulnerable female youths.
Umoyo Training Centre started as a pilot project on the 11th of November 1996, with seventeen (17) girls. In three years the centre has recruited three intakes with over 85% graduating. Over 80% of the girls that have graduated are engaged in one activity or the other (further training, employment and running small businesses). With the 2003/2004 intake in place the centre has recruited from more than ten compounds in Lusaka. Over two hundred and fourty (240) girls would have been trained by the project by July 2004.
For the girls coming to Umoyo Training Centre, there is the benefit to acquire a basis for going for further training, employment and starting up small businesses. Discussions held with the home-based care groups, other community-based organizations and guardians who have participated in the recruitment and follow up of the girls have indicated that the attractiveness of the centre has increased with its ability to secure further training and employment for the girls after graduation. These discussions are further strengthened by results of a review and evaluation of the program which further recommended the need to go an "an extra mile" to offer each of the girls a focused skill area of their "specialization".
The Project
The Stephen Lewis Foundation has supported two projects within the Umoyo program: to support girls upon graduation with the pursuit of continued education and funding for start-up of their own businesses and to increase the number of girls which the school can take in from 45 a year to 60 a year.
This latest project will help the Umoyo Training Centre to continue its program for the last six months of 2004.
SLF Ref#: UTC.04.05