A technical college in Hwange is positioning young people at the forefront of the country’s green energy transition through specialised solar training, designed to prepare them for emerging opportunities in the photovoltaic industry.
Don Bosco Technical College Hwange recently hosted a solar "train-the-trainer" programme that brought together students and trainers from Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi.
The training was facilitated by German renewable energy experts through a partnership involving the ZMB Province Planning and Development Office, based in Lusaka, and VET For Africa.
The initiative aims to equip participants with practical solar installation skills while creating a ripple effect, ensuring knowledge is passed on to future trainees and communities across the region. Principal Simbarashe Muza stated that the programme aligns with the institution’s long-term vision of preparing young people for a rapidly evolving energy sector.
“The world is going green, and since the energy future is green, we need to pre-equip youths for the emerging job market in green energy so that their skills are relevant not only for the present but for the future,” Muza said.
“The training programme gave them a taste of new technologies in the photovoltaic industry. The advantage is that when those technologies hit our context, they will find technicians who are already acquainted with them and ready to embrace them”.
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He noted that the programme was particularly relevant for communities surrounding Hwange, many of which remain off-grid and stand to benefit from increased access to solar expertise. “Since Hwange town is surrounded by rural communities, many of whom are off-grid, the skills these youths acquire here will indubitably make a significant impact to ensure that these communities are not left behind in energy self-sufficiency, while in the process guaranteeing employability for these youths,” he said.
The training covered a range of technical modules, including photovoltaic energy principles, solar installation processes, maintenance, and energy needs assessment. It also touched on data procurement and processing, installation zones, selection of photovoltaic generators, charge controllers, and hybrid inverters, as well as the protection of solar and battery circuits. While employment opportunities in the formal sector remain highly competitive, Muza said the institution is placing equal emphasis on entrepreneurship.
“Cognisant of the tight competition in the formal job market, we ensure that our trainees are equipped with entrepreneurial skills so that they can be their own employers if they so choose,” he said. “However, we still try to look for opportunities for them through the Job Service Office of the institution”.
The programme attracted 30 electrical engineering students, although the college hopes to increase participation in future training cycles. Muza said the initiative demonstrates the value of international partnerships in helping African institutions keep pace with global technological developments.
Don Bosco Hwange is part of DBTech Africa and belongs to the ZMB Province network, which comprises institutions in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi, and Botswana.
“It is this province which organised the event as part of a continuous skills advancement drive,” Muza said.
“We thrive on networking with like-minded organisations which are focused on youth empowerment through education and skills training”.
He added that collaboration with the German organisation VET For Africa provided an important platform for knowledge transfer and exposure to emerging technologies.
“As the world is moving fast and becoming smaller, it is only through networking and partnerships such as these that we in the developing world are able to prepare ourselves for the future of emerging technologies and even be inspired to innovate in sustainable energy technologies,” he said.
Although participants from neighbouring Zambia and Malawi attended the programme, Muza said the college’s focus remains on empowering Zimbabwean youth while building regional networks that facilitate the exchange of skills and experiences.
“Train-the-trainer models have a multiplier effect. Once trainers are trained, the skills cascade downwards to their trainees and ultimately to those who will learn the skill from them in non-formal settings as well,” he said.
“Some of our trainees come from rural communities that are off-grid and will be going back with these skills to their communities where they will be installing solar panels in rural homesteads and institutions. This is sustainable rural electrification and social transformation”.
Apart from solar energy training, Don Bosco Technical College Hwange offers programmes in electrical installation, maintenance and repair, welding and fabrication engineering, and machine shop engineering, among others