YOUNG people from vulnerable backgrounds in Mufindi district in Iringa region have said they strongly believe their lives will change for the better after the Youth Agency Mufindi (YAM) project expires.
This was revealed yesterday during a 10-day entrepreneurship workshop for 100 young people in the project area from Ihanu, Mdabulo and Luhunga wards of Mufindi district.
Saying some parents have been preventing them from joining youth groups to apply for various loans that will enable them to take action on economic projects.
They said through the project they began to see the difference in their lives.
They also said that the biggest challenge is for some parents and their guardians to have little understanding over various loans provided by councils and other financial institutions.
They said that that led to holding back the development of some young people in Mufindi district in Iringa region who have been prevented by their parents from appearing to apply for loans.
Adelina Hava said there is a need for training on entrepreneurship education and the benefits of embracing the various opportunities that are being advertised to continue to be provided to young people.
"Some young people did not have enough education on how to create opportunities and how to take advantage of the opportunities and how to access various loans but through this Youth Agence Mufindi (YAM) project.
We have been able to identify various opportunities that we can create and use to overcome the challenge of poor living conditions, "he said.
She said that they as young people want to take advantage of the loan opportunities that the government has been announcing but have been frustrated by the fear of non-repayment and getting into trouble for failing to repay loans.
However, she said that as a result of the training she now believes she will be a catalyst for her colleagues to embrace loans and other opportunities to change the direction of her economic life.
She also asked the government to continue providing loans to young people as well as education on the correctness of running projects and how to repay the loans.
For their part, members of the Village Child and Youth Protection Committee (VCPC) Anold Kinayevene and Augustino Julius said that there had been significant changes in the social and economic trends of the youth who are on the project unlike before the project started.
That these young people have great opportunities to work in their villages including raising pigs, poultry and other livestock including the cultivation of maize (gobo).
Recently speaking to the youths, Mufindi district commissioner Saad Mtambule, apart from congratulating the project coordinators, urged the young people who were fortunate enough to be included in the project to become project designers in their villages and urged the youth through the project to form economic groups to benefit from loans.
He said the district government would not like to see young people roaming the streets or winning villages without work and that those arrested would be brought before the law enforcement agencies to be imprisoned and trained to work there.
He added that after receiving the training the main thing is to implement it as their implementation will reduce the environment for criminal acts and sexual violence in their communities while urging them to use their leaders when they need help.
YAM project manager Zilpa Mgeni said the project is run in partnership with the government and they thank the government for showing high level cooperation with their project which as a whole is very supportive of the youth.
"My team and I have found this project helpful because we have noticed that there are significant changes since we first identified them,” said Zilpa.
He also called on the government to provide more cooperation, especially in assisting with access to credit, so that the beneficiaries can access capital and be able to develop themselves.
Commenting on the benefits of the training, Youth Agency project manager Mufindi (YAM) Zilipa said the aim of the training was to empower more than 770 young people including 150 orphans from the three wards.
All bases will be connected to the 16 villages of the project. He said the YAM project is for four years from 2021/2024 and is funded by the government of Finland's Deaconess institution in partnership with the Tanzanian government under Mufindi District Council and Foxes Community and Wildlife Conservation (FCWC).
Mgeni said after the training provided to the beneficiaries they will be empowered to run projects that they will have chosen to do by empowering them to improve it further.
For his part, the chairman of Mufindi District Council, Festo Mgina, urged the youths to listen carefully to the training while promising them to be together and to ensure they get loans after their training due to the government's good planning in helping the needy.
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