Hope Skills Centre
Hope Skills Centre opens up more opportunities for secondary school leavers to progress and provides further hope for the future.
In Malawi, vocational education is limited; there is a great need for local post-secondary training. Only three per cent of the population in Malawi have the chance to attend university or college, and fewer from rural day schools.
To address the skills gap, Hope4Malawi is developing a multifunctional training centre. Hope Skills Centre is designed to provide training, work experience and social spaces for students and visitors and will be a lifeline for school leavers.
The centre will equip local secondary school leavers with the skills needed to start businesses, work in trades, or gain employment and enable them to develop their character and faith. Since opening, with the first phase of building work completed in 2023, the centre has quickly become a community hub where local people can also upskill through additional education and training.
Educational & practical training skills courses
Educational and practical skills training courses and programmes at the centre cover a broad spectrum of needs, from students who require basic skills to complete job applications to those looking to start businesses.
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Specifically, the skills centre is developing vocational training courses to assist with sustainable rural and subsistence living in:
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Nutrition and Health
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Subsistence Crop Farming
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Animal Husbandry
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Environmental Protections
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Water and Sanitation-Hygiene
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Building Safer Houses
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Village Mechanics, Plumbing, Carpentry and Electrics
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Textiles
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Subsistence Farming as A Business
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Additional Income Business
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Starting and Running a Business
Youth Development Programme
Hope4Malawi’s one-year holistic Youth Development Programme aims to develop school leavers in three ways:
Life Skills
For young people to develop life and leadership skills and to pursue further academic education, enabling them to become mature adults and influencers in the community.
Christian Life
Building Christian character and faith in young people so they become lifelong disciples of Jesus.
Livelihood Generation
Empowering young people to generate a secure livelihood by developing:
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Subsistence living skills.
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Academic and vocational skills for employment.
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Business skills to provide supplementary income or run a thriving business enterprise.
Higher education and skills training can significantly improve prospects and earnings potential.
The Subsistence Crop Farming course at Hope Skills Centre allows students to learn about the benefits of farming organically with compost. With climate change affecting crops and the cost of fertiliser becoming prohibitive, compost increases soil fertility and retains more water.
Cuthbert, pictured teaching literacy in a primary school library, says the course changed his thinking. "I learnt about composting in class, experienced hands-on training in the field and saw the impact of using compost. This course has changed my mindset. I won’t be using fertiliser again.”