VOCATIONAL SKILLS TRAINING AS A POVERTY REDUCTION STRATEGY IN RURAL ZIMBABWE: A CASE OF VOCATIONAL SKILLS TRAINING PROJECT OF NTENGWE FOR COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT IN BINGA DISTRICT.

The purpose of this paper was to review the vocational skills training project that was implemented by Ntengwe for Community Development in Binga district. Central to this paper was to interrogate whether vocational training leads to poverty reduction or not. In depth interviews were conducted with eight youth who benefited from this project and these participants were purposively selected. The youth were trained in the following trades; building, carpentry, dress making, Leather work and Welding. These trades were found to be relevant in the Zimbabwe’s labour market and all the beneficiaries were operating enterprise groups thereby contributing more to economic development through employment creation. The study noted that there is no vocational training institution in Binga district which further marginalizes the community. The project suited well in the beneficiaries’ context as many of them were already engaged in the trades which they chose. The project benefited both young men and women from the poor rural wards in Binga. Most importantly, some women were found in male dominated trades like building which is important in ensuring equality in the economic spectrum. The project benefited the rural poor but reaching out to the very poorest is highly contested. Although the study was qualitative in nature, the researcher observed that the number of the youth who benefited from the project was very small which further doubts meaningful poverty reduction. The community is benefiting directly from the project as the trained youth offer voluntary services for example through providing their skills during construction of schools, hospitals and other community amenities. The beneficiaries testified increase in their income earnings which a key indicator proving that the project contributed to poverty reduction. Binga is still developing such that the beneficiaries have a lot of opportunities to utilize their skills. A number of challenges were presented by the youths such as economic hardship which is affecting their enterprises, lack of resources as well as limited skills.  The following recommendations were made based on the findings; stakeholders should consider establishing a vocational training center in Binga district, support should be provided for further training of the youth, Ntengwe for community development should scale up the project to increase its magnitude and to continue incorporating women.