The Minister of Youth and Sports, Uchizi Mkandawire, has assured the nation that the government will hit its target of training 20, 000 young people through the National Youth Service Programme.

President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, who is the brainchild of the programme, launched the programme in July 2022 as a vehicle for empowering young people through development of technical and vocational skills.

On Thursday, Mkandawire inspected work by two groups of youths undergoing six months training in Mzuzu.

Speaking to journalists after the inspection, the minister expressed satisfaction with the implementation of the programme, saying currently there are 3, 600 youths undergoing training across the country, 400 short of the initial target of 4, 000 per year, assuring the nation that the figure will be covered in the next cohorts.

“I decided to come and see for myself what these youths are doing, I am impressed, and this is what President Chakwera envisioned when he launched the initiative. I will lobby Parliament to allocate more funds towards the service because we are aware that not all our youths can get employment, so we need to train them in various skills of excellence and make them productive,” he said.

The two groups, which the minister inspected in Mzuzu, are being trained in solar and electrical installation with a component of irrigation farming using solar power, and organic fertilizer production through waste management.

Around 90 youths from two groups are being trained in Mzuzu from the initial estimation of 47 trainees.

President Chakwera described the National Youth Service Programme as a timely intervention that will perfect our youth empowerment drive.

The initiative – which formed part of our campaign promises both in 2019 and 2020 – offers a multi-pronged approach to offer profitable ventures to our young people through vocational training and capitalisation of respective trades of choice.

This program will train thousands of unemployed youth with marketable skills and connect them to opportunities for productive and profitable work.