Since 2014, SEED has extensively supported eco-inclusive entrepreneurs in Malawi. Making use of the experience and knowledge gained, SEED established a new cooperation with Technical, Entrepreneurial and Vocational Education and Training (TEVET) colleges to enable targeted entrepreneurship support for their students and graduates.

Unemployment is a major challenge for development in Malawi, a situation that is severely affecting the country’s youth. According to ILO, 21.7 percent of the nation’s youth aged 15-24 are neither in employment, education or training, and approximately 27 percent of those with a job are underemployed. The root cause of youth underemployment and unemployment in Malawi is a lack of jobs that is caused by limited structural transformation of the economy. While there is a broad range of public and private vocational training institutes in Malawi, their graduates also struggle finding adequate jobs. Out of necessity, many graduates strive for self-employment but often lack the entrepreneurial skills to set up their own ventures.

SEED having supported a broad range of aspiring entrepreneurs in Malawi through the SEED Starter programme co-created a tailored SEED TEVET entrepreneurship toolkit together with TEVET college staff. Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with Lilongwe Technical College, Don Bosco Youth Technical Institute and Namitete Technical College have been signed to formalise the cooperation. In November 2022, the first co-creation workshop took place in Lilongwe to align on the structure and overall outline of the planned SEED TEVET toolkit. Upon finalisation of the case-study based toolkit, a series of Training of Trainer workshops helped familiarise TEVET teachers with the methodology and tools. As a result, this enabled the TEVET colleges to set up their own incubation centres, respectively, to effectively integrate the highly interactive SEED methodology into their curricula.

For more information:

Julia Rohe-Fryedrich, Malawi Country Liaison

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