Form cooperatives Monze Council encourages beneficiaries of skills development

MONZE Town Council says, the beneficiaries of Constituency Development Fund Skills Development Bursaries have an opportunity to open businesses once they complete their training through the empowerment grants and loans.

Council Public Relations Officer Kanchele Kanchele said the local authority is willing to help graduates who will form cooperative’s to run their businesses once they complete their training.

He said that government and the private sector cannot consume all the graduates who are being trained in various skills but that the graduates can form groups and run their own businesses by applying for CDF loans.

Mr Kanchele was speaking when he featured on a radio program in Monze.

“What they should also realize, those we are taking to school via the Skills Development Bursaries is that they have an opportunity to apply for CDF loans because it is a different components,” he said.

“Those who are graduating need to know that they will not be abandoned after school, actually it is the pride of the local authority to see that people who have been sponsored for instance to do carpentry are running a workshop and are able to export things such as beds, chairs etc or taking to Lusaka to these big shops.

“We need to change our mindset and stop thinking that when we go to school then government or indeed the private sector will employ us because government or the private sector cannot consume all of us when it comes to employment,” he said.

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Co

ordinator for Monze District Collins Mumba called on the community to ensure that people who receive empowerment grants channel the resources towards the intended purpose.

He also said that it was important to carry out monitoring and evaluation so as to ensure that gaps are identified and worked on.

“We don’t pay much attention to monitoring and evaluation because we think when people go for monitoring they are going for faults finding which not the case is.

We just want to appreciate and see what has been done. We want to appreciate the process. See how it is going. Are we scoring success? If they are some gaps what should we do to avoid those gaps,” he said.