THE United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has partnered with other donors to inject $8 million into a project meant to capacitate at least 22 500 youths countrywide.
by TATIRA ZWINOIRA
The project is the second phase of the Zimbabwe Works Programme which was launched in 2012 to improve the economic prospects of the youths.
Other than USAID, other partners of the second phase are the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Embassy of Sweden and the International Youth Foundation. They will work with the Ministry of Small and Medium Enterprises and Cooperative Development.
The programme runs for three years from 2015 to 2017. “We are especially pleased that we are collaborating with the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development and the Embassy of Sweden in phase two of this programme. These partnerships will enrich the next phase of this programme enabling it to reach more youth with a wider variety of services,” USAID mission director Stephanie Funk said at the launch of the programme on Tuesday.
“Through the Zimbabwe Works Programme and other US government initiatives in Zimbabwe, the US is committed to supporting the Zimbabwean entrepreneurship community because Zimbabwean ideas, Zimbabwean innovators, Zimbabwean entrepreneurs have what it takes to transform this economy.”
The programme is meant to improve the economic prospects of up to 22 500 young Zimbabweans in 11 urban and rural districts. The first phase of the Zimbabwe Works Programme launched in 2012 helped over 8 500 youths acquire skills that empowered them to secure their economic futures.
The second phase will provide mentorship and internship opportunities for the youths, as well as business development services for job seekers and entrepreneurs to find employment or start a successful business.
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“The next phase of the programme aims to build on these private sector partnerships. However, employment in a large company is not going to provide all the jobs needed to employ Zimbabwe’s youth,” Funk said.
“In this next phase of Zimbabwe Works, entrepreneurship and self-employment will continue to provide youths with opportunities to make an income and contribute to greater economic activity.”
Funk said she heard about a number of promising innovations, from bio digesters fuelling rural homes to sadza making machines. Under one of Techwoman’s programmes, middle school children developed a system to track children’s whereabouts using GPS called “Uripi”. She said that there were a host of other big and small programmes that have the power to transform life in Zimbabwe and offer consumers a new product or service or a new and improved method of doing something.
“Innovation often boosts productivity and efficiency, driving costs down, and increasing economic growth and welfare. Second, and perhaps obvious, entrepreneurship contributes to employment.One study shows that in the US, start-ups play a bigger role in net job creation than established firms and this is true for Zimbabwe also,” Funk said.
