The project is targeting Adolescents and young adults, who are out of school between the ages of (16-24) living with HIV & AIDS and it will be implemented in High density suburbs of Harare and aims at providing vocational skills through community apprenticeship. These skills include, hair dressing, dress-making and agricultural activities among others. The acquired vocational skills will in turn create an opportunity for employment and self-reliance.
Adolescent Girls and Boys are orphaned in the early stages of their lives. Due to the the hash economic conditions the majority of these children find them selves dropping out of school to fend for their lives. Without any qualification these children indulge in prostitution and drugs risking contacting HIV ,spreading it and death to earn a living. Lack of any life skill that can generate income forces these children to continue indulging in acts that risk their lives and those of others.
An idle mind is the devil's workshop. Community apprenticeship will motivate youths to set goals which are achieved in a stipulated time frame. They will receive training on areas of interest such as dressmaking, hairdressing, baking, welding or carpentry through on the "job training" attached to a community mentor involved in such a business. They are then expected to start their own businesses after acquiring such skills and be able to generate income and grow their businesses.
The pilot community apprenticeship system will empower 20 adolescents and young adults to be self sustainable. In the long run the project will also benefit other unemployed youths in the communities as the fixed assets purchased will be used in cycles to train more Adolescents.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
