Transforming Scavenging Youth into Scholars and Entrepreneurs...

These are some of the former "scavengers" being trained at the Don Bosco Vocational School in Lilongwe

The National Youth Council of Malawi (NYCOM), with funding from the Kellogg Foundation, is implementing a two year project aimed at improving the lives of children and young men and women currently involved in waste picking/scavenging on two major waste dumping sites in Malawi.

NYCOM intends to achieve this by providing the target population with more profitable, safe and environmental friendly alternatives to waste picking.

The young people are either provided with education opportunities or given a skills development training programme that would transform them into entrepreneurs. The project targets young people living around the two major dumpsites of Blantyre and Lilongwe cities to provide scholarships to the young scavengers and train others in vocational skills. Some parents of the scavenging children have also been targeted by the project with the aim of economically empowering them with vocational skills and loans to be able to support their children.

The project aims to achieve the following objectives:

(a) To create awareness on the potential health hazards associated with scavenging on dumpsites.
(b) To advocate for youth and environmental friendly disposal of refuse in the two major cities of Blantyre and Lilongwe.
(c) To encourage young people currently scavenging in the dumpsites to go back to school.
(d) To engage scavenging youth into Income Generating Activities (IGAs) as an alternative and sustainable livelihood.
(e) To change the mindset of Malawians regarding their understanding of environmental issues.

NYCOM Executive Director Aubrey Chibwana (2nd left) presenting a sawing machine to one of the course graduates (far right) in Blantyre, flanked by the local committee members

NYCOM has partnered with the Child rights Information and Documentation Centre (CRIDOC) to produce radio and television programmes besides writing news features in the press. The programmes seek to achieve the following objectives:

(a) To help in raising awareness of the health risks of waste picking.
(b) To educate people countrywide on solid waste management starting from households and turning of waste products into wealth through recycling.
(c) To teach people on how they can safely dispose off their wastes.

It is expected that after the project all children in the impact area will be going to school; many youthful scavengers will have been transformed into entrepreneurs; and people living around the dumpsites will be provided with a safe environment, free from irritating smell and house flies, and uncontaminated water sources as is the case now.

NYCOM implements the project through collaboration with youth organisations (affiliates) whose impact area covers the dumpsites. These include the St. Peters Youth Organisation in Lilongwe and the Environmental Concerned Youth Association (ECOYA) in Blantyre. These organisations have been mandated to coordinate the project activities at community levels, such as briefing the communities; coordinating group/committee formation process; coordinating group meetings; identifying beneficiaries; project reporting; among other things.

Currently, the project has achieved a considerable number of outputs as follows:

(a) 20 children have already benefited in Lilongwe through scholarships that have enabled them to go back to school
(b) 20 young people in Lilongwe have already graduated from two-month courses in tailoring, carpentry and mechanics offered by the Don Bosco Youth Technical Institute.
(c) 20 children have already benefited in Blantyre through scholarships that have enabled them to go back to school
(d) 20 young people in Blantyre have already graduated from two-month courses in tailoring and mechanics offered by the Don Bosco Youth Technical Institute.
(e) Loans have been distributed to some of the graduates to enable them venture into business/entrepreneurships.
(f) Communities have been mobilised to take part in the project through the formation of committees in the villages surrounding both dumpsites in Lilongwe and Blantyre; conducting meetings with traditional leaders; among other things.
(g) Radio programmes are currently being aired on MBC Radio 1 on Tuesdays and Sundays