Through the new agreements, the two projects – with support from the IICD Zambia Country programme - will be deploying the experiences and lessons they have learned through their own youth resource centres - Chawama Youth Project (CYP) in Lusaka, and the Ndola Resource Youth Co-operative Society (NRYCS) in Ndola. The involvement of these partners is ultimately intended to help transform the other sixteen centres into efficient, effective and financial sustainable youth skills centres.

Investing in the youth of Zambia

The Government of Zambia, through the MSYCD, has undertaken a number of measures to promote and advocate for the improvement of access to ICT and provide young people with the skills to make use of, for example, ICT in youth skills centres and training curricula. In addition to increasing levels of computer literacy and access to ICT, it is also encouraging girls and young women to make use of ICT through targeted programmes, as well as establishing public telecentres and train young people in the use of ICT.

In 2006, the MSYCD developed a new National Youth Policy to “promote the use of ICT for youth development” and its more specific objectives of promoting sustainable ICT capacity building targeted at youth. It is looking to harness ICTs to increase employment opportunities, promote youth accessibility to ICT facilities and materials and promote the operation of internet connectivity as a potential area for entrepreneurship development among young people. The MYSCD is responsible for the development of ‘Out of School Youth’ – a responsibility that sees the Ministry directly providing and managing a number of Youth Resource Centres, which offer non-formal skills training and entrepreneurship skills training to children outside the school system.

Collaboration with IICD, CYP and NRYCS

The collaboration will focus on the twin goals of making the sixteen Youth Resource Centres effective and efficient, and making sure they can operate effectively, with little financial or technical assistance from third parties. The Ministry has recognised from its own experience that no-one-size-fits-all approach really works when designing and implementing effective training programmes, or indeed projects. Consequently the Ministry is looking to IICD, CYP and NRYCS to assist and advice the sixteen centres – using the methodologies, processes and techniques that have helped to make their own centres so successful. The overall aim being to create centres developed by the individual community for the individual community.

In practical terms the two IICD-supported centres will be the local coordinator of the partnership – IICD providing an advisory role on various strategic issues and institutional capacity development. The activities of this consortium will focus on a number of targeted areas. It will be providing strategic advice to department heads and centre managers in terms of the technical and organizational issues. This should strengthen the delivery of services at managerial level. There will then be technical ICT training for department heads and centre managers and other staff members working at an operational level. Here the emphasis is on training – particularly the development of train-the-trainer programmes, as well as the accompanying materials.