Govt urged to exploit work camps
The National Youth Council of Malawi (Nycom) has asked government to exploit the ‘youth work camps’ concept in addressing youth unemployment through the building of technical and professional skills.
Youth work camps aim at mobilising young people aged up to 35 to participate in socio-economic development activities in their communities.
Speaking recently after touring Thyolo Multipurpose Learning Centre, built by campers with Unicef providing funding for the resources, Nycom executive director Aubrey Chibwana observed that the country could have registered a significant socio-economic transformation had government replicated the concept to other parts of the country.
“This is a very strong tool for imparting vocational and technical skills to volunteers, which will, in turn, lead to the reduction of unemployment in the country.
“Work camps challenge volunteers to assume an active citizenship; inviting them to reflect upon their impact on local communities as well as national and global society in various sectors of the economy,” explained Chibwana.
Thyolo Active Youth Organisation (Tayo) executive director, Willard Mwambo, said 80 youths took part in the construction of the multipurpose learning centre.
Usually, work camps consist of groups of young people from different backgrounds, who do not know each other, but wish to live together for several weeks to serve the development interests of their community, nation or region.
Active Youth Initiative for Social Enhancement (Ayise) was the first organisation to adopt the concept in Malawi in 1999 and has used it to construct school blocks and youth centres across the country.
