On Monday, June 13, 2022, the fourth virtual peer visit to a CoVE was held as part of the ETF Network for Excellence SISI initiative - Sharing Innovation for Social Inclusion.
The host of the visit was DAPP - Mikolongwe Vocational School, Malawi. The day's agenda was rich and engaging, involving all the institution's key stakeholders: the administrators of the centre, the trainers and the learners. The session was moderated by Enock Juma, the DAPP partnership manager. After the opening greetings and an introductive video about the centre’s activities and premises, there has been the intervention of Charles Salema, principal of the school, and then the contribution of Zachariah Viano (deputy principal) focusing on the mobile project implemented by the centre in the rural and most remote areas of the surrounding territory. They offered a detailed picture of the activities carried on by the centre both in its premises and on the territory of south Malawi.
Inclusion of disadvantaged people – and, in particular, of fragile girls- is a cross-cutting issue for the centre. In this regard, it is worth mentioning the mobile training project, as it undoubtably represents a best practice for the social inclusion of people from disadvantaged backgrounds. A van containing the equipment reaches the most disadvantaged rural areas in the south of the country, moving to a new village every four months in order to offer vulnerable girls aged 18 to 35 courses in tailoring, embroidery, as well as basic business management. This project has been active since 2016, involving more than 270 girls so far, improving their livelihoods and creating job opportunities (with a particular focus on entrepreneurship skills) in areas in which there is shortage of professional trainers. The mobile project fit in the framework of a broader range of outreach programmes directed towards disadvantaged students of the rural areas, implemented in partnership with prestigious international organizations: some of these programmes are stable on the territory, instead of being moved periodically. Also the TRIO system and the teacher training programmes were presented.
Lastly, three students shared their precious point of view about the functioning of the centre. The students live in the campus, sharing their daily lives both inside and outside of the classes, and are actively involved in the decisions regarding the management of the centre, as well as in a number of extracurricular activities.
This peer visit left the participants with a renovated significance as to what an amazing tool for inclusion and a source of opportunities for people coming from a disadvantaged background VET can represent. Our initiative is growing increasingly enriched by the valuable interventions of our featured CoVEs.
Development from People to People (DAPP) Malawi is a local NGO that has worked in Malawi since 1995. DAPP Malawi is a national member of the Federation Humana People to People, a network of 30 organisations engaged in international solidarity,cooperation and development in Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe.
The objective of DAPP Malawi is to promote social and economic development. Through a variety of development models, DAPP complements the government’s effort in implementing the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy. The people engaged in the development initiatives of DAPP Malawi are trained and equipped with tools and knowledge enabling them to transform their dreams and wishes for a better life into practical actions.
Presently, the DAPP projects are focused on four of the pressing development issues in Malawi:
1.Increasing access to inclusive quality education
2.Improving food-security and economic growth through Climate Smart Agriculture among small holder farmers
3.Improving children’s conditions
4.Combating HIV & AIDS, TB, Malaria, Malnutrition and Pandemics
DAPP is in its 25th year of creating long-term development in the country. Since its inception in 1995, DAPP has built up a sound institutional capacity and an impressive track record with the people of Malawi. The projects are carried out in close partnership with the National Government, local and district authorities and a range of national as well as international partners.
https://www.dapp-malawi.org/who-we-are/who-we-are-dapp-malawi
DAPP Malawi is in 2021 celebrating 26 years of active involvement in development work with communities through out the country. DAPP is implementing 17 projects within education, health, agriculture and community development in 25 district that span across the country's three regions. Since 2011 they monitor and evaluate their work while reflecting on what has worked and how to reshape the support to the schools, community and all the related public and private institutions supporting this work. For more you can see these annual reports: https://www.dapp-malawi.org/index.php?option=com_phocadownload&view=cat…
Inspirational work on inclusion in Malawi!
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