It’s 9am on a warm Thursday in Chiluzwazwa Village, Traditional Authority Kalikokha in Kasungu District.
The dark grey dambo soil is rich and damp as Masozi Nyirenda, 32, gently tends to sprout watermelons, cucumbers and Irish potatoes. Nearby, hoes slice through soil, water splashes onto tender leaves and hearty laughter fills the air.
These are students, aged 15 to 35, learning to cultivate edible crops and their futures.
For Nyirenda, this could be her breakaway from poverty.
After a dismal performance in the 2013 Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) examinations, she tried multiple short courses, but never secured permanent employment.
“It’s hard to find formal employment nowadays,” she says, sighing with frustration. “The struggle is even harder for unskilled girls in rural communities, who are often pushed into early marriages to escape poverty.”
Nyirenda raises a three-year-old daughter single-handedly.
In December 2024, she enrolled in Zantchito’s horticulture training in her village. The initiative is funded by the European Union to revolutionise the Technical, Entrepreneurial, and Vocational Education and Training (Tevet) in the country.
Plan International Malawi runs its partnership with Plan International Norway through Bowe Youth Vocational Training Institute in Kasungu and Ekwendeni Lay Training Centre in Mzimba North.
The four-year initiative seeks to train 4 160 youths—60 percent young women, 40 percent young men, and five percent youth with disabilities—in tailoring, carpentry, hairdressing, soap making, phone repair, seed production and horticulture.
The trades are expected to improve the trainees’ access to wage employment and self-employment.
Nyirenda hopes to own a thriving commercial farm.
She is already applying her new farming knowledge—proper spacing, pest control and organic fertilisers—to improve her yields in her village where the youth are mostly seen idling or at drinking joints due to lack of economic opportunities.
Traditional Authority Kalikokha pledges full support for Zantchito youth participants, including providing land for cultivation.
He says horticulture and seed production are vital for the country’s agricultural future, criticizing the reliance on imports like cucumbers, Irish potatoes and bananas.
“We can produce high-quality seeds, organic fertilisers and healthy crops locally, cutting costs and ensuring food security,” he says.
As the project’s ambassador, Kalikokha says the initiative has reduced early marriages and pregnancies in the rural locality from 75 percent to 35 percent.
“When young people are busy building their futures, they make better choices,” he observes.
Kasungu North Zantchito project officer Symon Nkhwazi applauds the youth for their commitment to learning new skills and creating opportunities in a job-scarce country.
He says the new skills open business opportunities that can benefit rural communities and Malawi’s ailing economy.
Deborah Luhana, 21, from Nkhorongo in Mzuzu, is pursuing horticulture at Ekwendeni Lay Training Centre.
“People think a girl like me should depend on my parents or get married for survival,” she states “Times are tough. We need to stand on our own and help our families.”
Beyond the farms, young women are challenging gender norms in traditionally male-dominated fields.
Bowe-based carpentry and joinery trainee Mphatso Kumwenda, 22, is carving a living.
Raised by her grandmother after her parents divorced before her birth, Mphatso struggled with fees and did not perform well in her 2022 MSCE examinations.
“People think carpentry is exclusively for men, but I chose this trade because I want to make more money and support my family,” she asserts, whipping off sawdust from her overalls while smoothing a plank using a plane.
Aline Mhlanga, 18, from Doroba in Mzimba North, is one of three girls in a carpentry class at Ekwendeni Lay Training Centre.
“As the eldest of my five siblings, I carry my family’s hopes to lift everyone out of hardship,” she says, determined to turn her skills into a career.
Ekwendeni Lay Training Centre head of training Robert Yauka Kumwenda says the project is crucial in addressing youth unemployment, particularly in rural areas, where school dropouts as young as 15 often turn to alcohol abuse and early marriages.
He states: “All seven trades conclude with entrepreneurship, including financial management, budgeting, and profit reinvestment.
“These skills are crucial before linking them to start-up capital through financial institutions and village savings and loan groups. Otherwise, they might misuse the money.”
Plan International Malawi’s campaigns and communications technical lead Winnie Botha says the youth in rural parts of Malawi are idle not by choice, but because they lack tools, financing and business knowledge.
“Equipping youth with skills and resources can help build an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant Malawi as envisioned in the Malawi 2063,” she adds.
