By Vincent Gunde
Takenolab, an organization implementing Malawi Digital Program in Dowa district has appreciated the support it is receiving from Dowa District Council saying this is helping the two sides in shaping a brighter future for the youth in the district.
The organization which is based at Dzaleka Refugee Camp-Lilambwe Village in the area of Senior Chief Msakambewa, has described the year 2023 as a successful year for the Digital Malawi Project most especially in the web development training among the students.
Giving a progress update on the Digital Malawi Project to the Dowa District Executive Committee (DEC) at a meeting held at the Boma, the Project’s Team Leader Deborah Ntakirutimana, said 93 students from the district have been trained in the use of computers in website development at its centre office.
Ntakirutimana said currently, the last cohort for 2023 is progress until the end of November, 2023 and that the outreach to local schools covered all 8 schools surrounding Chigudu zone from August to September, 2023.
She said the project has trained 48 pupils of Chigudu primary school, 43 from Mwangala primary school, Thedze 75, Mtenthela 62, Mkanga 52, Kapatamoyo 59, Mcheza and Golong’ozi Community Day Secondary Schools (CDSS) 52 and 58 pupils respectively.
The Team Leader said the project has so far expanded to Nalunga zone from 2nd October, 2023 saying 4 schools have been engaged; Nalunga primary and secondary school, Windu primary school and Kanyanyata primary school.
“We are committed to further expanding and empowering the youth of Dowa district,” said Ntakirutimana.
She said besides the project registering remarkable successes, it is meeting challenges such as fuel scarcity which is now a national issue but they are adhering to their program schedules and transportation for students.
Ntakirutimana said the challenges were resolved by organizing weekend practical lessons to the students to avoid missing regular classes saying Takenolab has a dedicated team delivering high-quality training in computers.
She said the project has maintained program schedules despite challenges saying this is demonstrating to the outside world that they have a commitment to empowering students of Dowa with various computer skills.
The Team Leader said the project is receiving positive feedbacks from the students from standard 5 to 7 and form 1 and 3 saying examination classes are not targeted to avoid confusing them and teachers too, are requesting computer trainings to avoid falling behind.
In her remarks, Dowa District Council’s Director of Planning and Development Mecry Mpakule, appealed to all partners implementing their various interventions in the district to share progress reports of their projects for cooperation, transparency and accountability purposes.
