Survival Skills and Philanthropy
The philanthropists move from place to place, identifying groups of youth to work with, and they equip them with different vocational skills in order to sustain their livelihoods.
Uncertainty has been one thing that characterized this season of the COVID-19 situation. And for many, their livelihoods had been affected. However, a group of philanthropists have chosen to extend different vocational skills to many across the country.
The philanthropists move from place to place, identifying groups of youth to work with, and they equip them with different vocational skills in order to sustain their livelihoods. The group offers the skilling services at subsidized rates, for as low as shs10,000, (about 2 dollars). But they also offer free training services where need be.
Sawa world, the organization conducting the skilling trainings, is currently running a program which, they say will continue till December this year. They are concentrating on skilling the youths in making of household necessities and turning small scale business into reliable sources of income. For example, they have been training many in the making of liquid soap, an item that is pertinent in preventing the coronavirus.
“Liquid soap is a very important household item. Many households run through so many bottles in a month. The price may seem small per purchase, but when you calculate the cost of all the bottles each home uses, that is a lot of money,” said one of the facilitators.
The group of facilitators is encouraging the youth to join the program and equip them with skills to cushion their livelihoods in this time of uncertainty on job security. And, for the youths to share the same skills with their peers.
The philanthropists have also taken to the virtual platforms to advertise their offer to the youth and they say that their next target of training will be on how to make candles. So that when the youth learn to make them, they can turn their skills to starting up businesses. “Have you ever wondered how candles are made? Well, here’s your opportunity to learn how to make them and even start a business out of it! For more information on how to be a part of our training, please send a WhatsApp message to +256 785 485792 or +256 789 981872,” read a note on one of their virtual social sites.
They use the virtual realms to do their training, a thing that enables them to work without worrying about the spread of COVID-19. They also do this to cut on logistics costs, as most of their clientele have no known source of income.
By CivSource Team