Once again, Workaid is participating in the Big Give Christmas Challenge. This year we are focusing on improving the quality of what we do in Zambia.

Last year with our exclusive partners, the Vwila Foundation ran a pioneering pilot programme at the Lusaka Youth Resource Centre (LYRC). There, tailoring tutors were trained by a qualified local teacher to gain an accredited skills in sewing machine repair and maintenance. This pilot was a great success enabling the teachers to pass on their new skills to 20 tailoring trainees. Almost all of these have since found gainful employment or set up businesses.

Programme Roll Out . . .
We want to roll the programme out to those teaching tailoring at a further 10 vocational training centres. In turn, this means a further 100 trainees will learn these vital skills each year. Though the manual Singer machines we send to vocational training centre are durable, a proportion becomes unusable due to general wear and tear of constant use so need maintenance and repairs from time to time. Since Workaid’s foundation, we’ve sent almost 24,000 sewing machines to Africa, but feedback tells us that a percentage fall into disuse each year, many with eminently fixable problems like over-oiling.

For the ultimate beneficiaries, this is a real problem. Replacement machines cost an average of £100 locally; many are not as durable as the Singers we send and are financially out of reach for a young person. By enabling them to learn skills in repair and maintenance we will improve the likelihood that their training will have an enduring impact in helping them help themselves out of poverty.

Your support through the Big Give will mean that we can send un-refurbished machines as training aids and to give to graduates. This funding will enable us to cover all the costs of running the training including tuition, travel expenses and venue hire. An additional benefit is that it increases connections between the training centres, building their ability to support and learn from one another.

Update (03/12/21)
We’ve smashed our Big Give Campaign target in astonishing time. Thank you to everyone for your generous contributions to our campaign supporting vital projects in Africa.  Thank you!

Check out our Big Give Christmas Campaign 2021. This campaign is now closed but if this has inspired you to make a monetary donation or donate tools and equipment; find out how on Donate Money or Donate Tools. Thank you.

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