After experiencing a decade of growth, life in Zambia is slowly improving. Yet the bite of poverty is still felt sharply, particularly in rural areas. High rates of HIV/AIDS hinder development, and illiteracy, malnutrition and poor sanitation are widespread. There is still a long way to go on the path out of poverty.
Zambia’s National Development Plan recognises that improving access to high-quality skills training has a critical role to play in the country’s socio-economic development. Tools for Self Reliance plays a vital part, supporting local organisations to deliver vocational and entrepreneurial training to those who may otherwise be at risk of exclusion from the local economy, such as women, marginalised youth and people living with HIV/AIDS.
Tools for Self Reliance works with its partners in Zambia to get people out of poverty and into work. Our partners are non-governmental organisations with a successful record of working with local communities. Here are a few of them.
Chichetekelo Outreach Partners (COP) is based in Kabwe and aims to promote positive living among people living with HIV/AIDS and TB. It does this by working to decrease poverty, stigma and discrimination in the HIV positive and TB community through livelihood development, lobbying government and NGOs to address inequalities and to create conducive conditions for the upholding of human rights.
Eliashib Women’s Centre was set up in 2008 in order to address the problem of women’s disempowerment and vulnerability in the impoverished Mulshili community. By providing a programme of tailoring, business and life skills training, as well as the appropriate tools, Eliashib gives uneducated women, many of whom are affected by HIV/AIDS, the opportunity to set up their own businesses and to provide a secure future for themselves and their families.
Kabushi Entrepreneurship and Vocational Training Centre (KEVTC) is a community based vocational training institution which has been accredited by the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA) since 2003. The centre offers vocational and business skills training to school leavers and those who have dropped out of school. The training programme is supplemented by HIV/AIDS awareness training provided by the Integrated Health Programme.
Read our Learning and Impact report for our Building Livelihoods for Marginalised Young People in Ndola, Zambia project here
Rise Community Aid Programme (RICAP) is based in Kafue and its main function is to facilitate poverty reduction in Kafue communities and surrounding areas through socio-economic empowerment. RICAP’s activities include facilitating youth skills training & women economic empowerment, provision of basic care & support to people living with HIV & their families and support to orphans & vulnerable children (OVC) through provision of psychosocial, education and health support.
Kafue Innovation Centre (KIC) are newest member of the Zambia partner programme family, officially becoming a partner of Tools for Self Reliance in 2018. Not only are they a training centre, supporting local youth in Kafue with skills to enable them to support themselves and their families, but they are young people themselves, who innovate and inspire ideas that will contribute sustainably and effectively in their community, for the benefit of their community.
We are currently not seeking any new partners within our Zambia programme, so will not be accepting any partnership requests for the time being – we will update the website when this changes
