The Republic of Malawi is a land-locked nation in Southern Africa, although sometimes it is considered to also be situated in Eastern Africa. It is bordered by Tanzania to the north, Zambia on the north-west, and Mozambique on the east, south, and west.

Life expectancy in Malawi is now as low as 36.5 years; five years lower than it was 50 years ago. This drop is due to populations impoverishment, which is constituted by many factors:

• low income (the mean per capita income in Malawi is less than $1 per day)
• insufficient nutrition
• poor access to medical treatment
• insufficient school education
• spread of HIV / AIDS

Furthermore:

• Over 900,000 people living with HIV/AIDS
• Population is predominately Christian
• 62% can read and write
• 90% living in rural areas
• 55% below the poverty line

It is the stated intention of Irish Aid and the Malawian Government to increase the opportunities for self employment in local small industries and to this effect they are encouraging the development of Vocational Education and Training. The government is striving to create a viable opportunity for young Malawians to find employment in their local communities and thus combat the drift from rural areas into large towns and cities. In the Zomba district, the last figures available only lists two schools providing this type of education and training and this is totally inadequate.

Against the background of these facts and figures and with the encouragement of Irish Aid,  Playing for Life has agreed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Malawian Department of Education and Vocational Training. This agreement encourages and assists Playing for Life to build and equip Vocational Training centres attached to local second level schools in Malawi. Upon the completion and equipping of these buildings the Malawian authorities will take full responsibility for the staffing and running of these centres as an integral part of their education system.

Playing for Life has already built the Sakata Vocational School and  extended the Namisonga Communityr School and is about to complete the building of its third Vocational Training centre in Mkwichi. Since 2005, Playing for life has assisted young people in Malawi to develop their potential by providing training in vocational skills enabling them to become productive citizens, contributing to the social and economic development of the country and we also promote various sporting activities and sex education programmes among the youth of Malawi to reduce the spread of Hiv/AIDS infections.

We recently had the great pleasure of visiting, with the Ministry of Education representatives, our current School Building Project just outside Blantyre and personally advising the Principal of the school of our development programme and what it would entail for him and his students.  This school has over 5 hectares of land and the potential for development is vast.  We hope to start the building programme as soon as the necessary protocols regarding tenders and contracts are completed.

The Vocational Training Centre building programme works as an extension to the activities of the Malawi Ministry of Education to facilitate, promote and regulate training programmes to ensure that the Curriculum is in line with the Malawi Department of Education quality standards.

The project is being implemented over a period of three years. The total cost of the programme, including cost of construction of classrooms, training support for scholarship students, sporting activities, Hiv/AIDS awareness and advocacy activities and programme administration is estimated at € 619,260.00.

For more information on our work in Malawi, please see Success Stories.