Zambian Youth Use Computer Program for Menu Making

In the Kalingalinga youth resource centre in Lusaka children and young adults learn skills such as cooking, carpentry and farming to provide them with better opportunities for the future. More and more the youth also learn about how to work with computers and how computers can help them to support the skills they acquired. For instance in Food production class the children and young adults from Lusaka learn how to run a restaurant. By using a computer they can then make menus for the restaurant by designing them and then printing them. The students also use the computers to look up recipes of international dishes, thus expanding their knowledge.

Kalingalinga is part of a chain of 16 youth resource centres throughout Zambia where information and communication technology (ICT) is introduced to help students and teachers with their regular classes. This programme is based on the experiences of the IICD-supported Chawama Youth Project and the IICD-supported Ndola Resource Centre Project. In these projects youth resource centres help young people in the township of Chawama and in the city of Ndola by offering ‘life skills’ courses in subjects such as Auto Mechanics, Tailoring, Carpentry, and ICT to improve the chances of finding work for young people.

In carpentry and tailoring classes computers are mostly used to calculate precise sizes and draw out designs for products such as tables and chairs. This saves the carpenters time and also ensures that fewer errors will be made compared to drawing by hand.  In the classes in Kalingalinga the students were trained by Ndola Resource Centre to use the computer templates and designs made by the Chawama Youth Project and then make variations on these designs to learn new ICT skills.  After the students master these skills, they start making designs of their own. At a later stage these designs could then also be used in other youth resource centres.