Plan Malawi’s YES I DO project manager Joseph Maere said this in Lilongwe on Thursday when the organization alongside its implementing partner TEVETA presented certificates to 38 young people, who have completed a six-month vocational skills training.

Maere observed that young people are not meaningfully contributing to social-economic development of the country due to lack of employment.

For the last four years Plan Malawi has embarked on a Yes I do project aimed training young people to be self-reliant.

The Yes I Do project manager Joseph Maere say they believe in reducing unemployment rate.

“We are hopeful that the skills will improve the lives of these youth. Besides graduating in various trades, we have also under the project managed to bring back to school over 1,000 youths. We have further managed to intervene and bring back to school some 162 youths from early marriages,” said Maere.

Teveta’s Regional Service Center Manager Conceptor Kachoka has since encouraged the youths to develop confidence, and practice to sharpen their skills as they step into the competitive world.

“We have encouraged these young men to practice to perfect their skills because there is competition out there. And you can see it for yourselves, the confectionaries that you will eat here are done by those that graduated in the past. This is evidence that the skills should be sharpened and put to good use so that they are beneficial,” Kachoka said.

One of the graduating students Stanley Mwase said the skills they have acquired, are enough capital to make them economically independent.

“This will help us a lot. Many of us that graduated today belonged to some groups back home, and it is in those groups that we will work in. some of us believe that if we partner with others, we will achieve more,” Mwase said.

Through the project over one thousand youths have gone back to school, and 162 of these rescued from early marriages.

The 5 year 1.2 billion kwacha project which has been implemented in Lilongwe and Machinga, is in its final year.