The Government is investing in empowering youths with appropriate skills and competences to enable them effectively to contribute to the economic development of the great nation. Skilled youth are a critical workforce to produce goods and services in different sectors of the economy. The TEVET Fund is key in supporting the development of technical skills, vocational training, and entrepreneurship initiatives for socio-economic development objectives.

The main purpose of the TEVET Fund is to finance programmes that enhance employability, productivity, and self-employment opportunities for individuals, especially MSMEs and informal sector players. TEVETA provides capacity building for training institutions to increase accessing the TEVET Fund. The aim of capacity building helps training institutions understand requirements for accessing the TEVET Fund. These requirements include knowledge about eligibility criteria, application procedures, documentation requirements and compliance standards.

In a bid to increase access to quality TEVET and in line with the objectives of the Eighth National Development Plan (8NDP), the Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops (ZCCB) organised a two-day capacity building workshop for training institutions under the ZCCB. The workshop focused on TEVET Fund proposal writing, application procedures for funding, implementation, and reporting. This capacity building was called upon after the ZCCB observed that most of the member institutions lack knowledge in accessing or resource mobilisation through the Fund.

Speaking during the workshop, the ZCCB Secretary and Chairperson of the TEVET Fund Committee Fr. Dr. Leonard Namuhamba said the ZCCB had 41 skills training centres registered under the conference providing skills training to the youth and adult population. He stressed the importance of TEVET to economic development and mindset change to prioritise TEVET for the economic transformation.

“The church recognises the role that Government plays in the provision of these skills. We appreciate mindset change from the time when skills were considered a last option for those that had failed to being a driving force for economic development.” Fr. Dr.  Namuhamba implored TEVETA to revise the curricula to match the needs of the labour market.

 And the TEVETA Director General, Cleophas Takaiza, applauded the church for providing a platform for feedback and appreciated the role that the church plays in skills development. Mr. Takaiza reaffirmed TEVETA’s commitment to ensuring increased and improved access to TEVET, especially access to funding through the Fund.

TEVET is pivotal in economic transformation by providing individuals with the skills and knowledge needed to contribute effectively to various sectors of the economy. The focus on TEVET towards practical competences aligns with industry needs by producing a skilled workforce capable of driving innovation, productivity, and competitiveness.