The Salvation Army to sponsor 300 vulnerable youth in Temeke Municipality for Vocational Training

A total of 300 vulnerable youth from Temeke municipality are expected to receive Vocational education and training in the area of hotel and tourism thanks to the Salvation Army Tanzania for the sponsorship of about USD 400,000.

Speaking during the launch of the project held in Dar es Salaam today, the Acting Vocational Education Training Authority (VETA) Dar es Salaam Regional Director Mrs Florence Kapinga said that the four years project which will begin in May, 2018 aims at increasing job opportunities and income for unemployed and unskilled youths of Temeke Municipality in the tourism and travel business.

She said The Salvation Army will collaborate with VETA and the Temeke Municipal Council whereby VETA will provide the academics (teaching, study material, recognised certificates for students after exams) and Temeke Municipal Council will be involved in the selection of unemployed youth.

She said the project has come at the right time to support the authority`s efforts in ensuring equitable access to vocational education and training to all groups in the society and the government`s agenda to transform the country into semi-industrialized one.

She said VETA will ensure effective training delivery to the youth while observing the quality of the training to enable them acquire marketable skills in the area of hotel and tourism.

The Salvation Army Tanzania Territorial Commander Col. Wayne Bungay said that it has always been their mission to provide support in the areas of education especially for children and youth and that they believe the project will bring positive impact to vulnerable youth of Temeke as well as their families.

He said the project will offer a special focus on girls and youths with a disability where by 60 percent of the beneficiaries will be female, 40 percent male of which 5 % will be youths with a disability.

According to Col. Bungay, the hospitality industry is growing and at the same time suffers from a supply shortage of qualified and competent staff, which can be provided through the project and that the hotels will closely be involved at each stage of the implementation so that they could offer field training and placement for the youth trainees.

The representative of the donors from The Salvation Army Netherlands Mr Jan Janssen said that it was their expectation that their support will change lives of the marginalized youth in Temeke municipality.

The project is funded by Salvation Army Norway, Salvation Army Netherlands and the government of Norway.

On his side, the Acting Temeke District Executive Director Eng Damas Primy expressed his gratitude for the support saying it will reduce the number of unskilled and unemployed youths in his district.

He said his district will carefully conduct the identification exercise by involving leaders at the street level to ensure the intended group which is vulnerable youth benefit from the support.