Umoyo Training Centre, Lusaka, Zambia

Umoyo Training Centre started as a pilot project in November 1996 with 17 girls. Orphan girls chosen by their communities (by elders, local political leaders, or at a community meeting) take part in the program. They are first given counseling to help them deal with their grief and sense of loss. Later, the girls are empowered with strong academic training. They also learn about independent sexuality and reproductive health. Over two hundred and forty (240) girls will have been trained by July 2004. Over 85% graduate and over 80% of the girls who graduate engage in further training, employment or running small businesses.

The key component of the strategy is "learning by doing" in terms of training and methodology. All the youth are actively involved in the day-to-day operation of the centre to learn specific skills and to ensure that the centre runs smoothly. The methodology underlying the activities and forms of organization has been designed to give youth as much authority as possible for planning, organization and implementation. This method is intended to encourage self-confidence, responsibility, initiative and accountability for the success of activities.

The Residential Program is designed in such a way that the girls are in-touch with the community and their guardians as much as possible. The girls go home every month. This gives them a chance to compare what is happening in the community with what they learn at the Centre, it also makes the girls feel part of the community.

For each girl that comes to the Umoyo Training Centre, there are on average another five children at home. Graduates who are empowered and able to start work, take their young brothers and sisters back to school, and they, themselves are able to start work.

Over 80 percent of the girls that have graduated are engaged in one activity or the other (further training, employment and running small businesses).

The Umoyo Training Centre enables girls to compete in the economy, encouraging them to further their education or to start their own business. This improves their coping skills and, in turn, results in reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Graduates and Outcomes:

When a girl graduates from Umoyo, she has skills that lead to employment, sometimes for a company, often for a business of her own, for which she gets a start-up micro-loan. At Umoyo, they all learn about cooking, nutrition, they garden, keep chickens..and, equally important, they learn how to make and manage a budget,  and what things one must consider when looking for a job, or starting your own business.

Sharon, for example, a 19 year old graduate set up a small bakery in the bustling, crowded area where she grew up.   Her father had died of AIDS, her mother was dying, and with a micro-loan to buy an oven, Sharon rented a tiny space, where, 7 days a week, she makes and sells meat-pies, cakes and cookies.  She pays rent and food for the whole family, plus school fees for her 5 younger siblings.  This outcome is a result of the cooking, baking, budgetary skills that she learned at Umoyo.