Apostlic Faith Mission (AFM) has hailed skills development as a panacea for achieving rural development especially in informal sector.

AFM Programmes Officer Sarah Genti-Mataula said this recently when the organisation donated different equipment of vocational training to 18 youth who underwent six months training in various technology colleges.

Genti - Mataula said AFM conducted a survey in Traditional Authority (TA) Malemia in Nsanje district, which assisted them to identify vulnerable youths. They sent the identified youths to different informal vocational colleges in the country.

She said: "We normally use a form called Poverty Probability Index to identify the beneficiaries. The households that score below 34% are taken on board.

"Today we are giving tools to the youth who went to do different vocational skills in colleges like Don Bosco and SOS in Lilongwe, Kungoni and Sanwecka in Blantyre worth 16 Million Malawi Kwacha (about $9,000) after spending money amounting to 65 Million Malawi Kwacha (about $38,200) for their training and upkeep allowances during their attachments."

Paul Sitonkeni, 20 year old, from Therere village in the area thanked AFM for giving him a new begging as he was trained in carpentry and joinery at SOS College in Lilongwe.

Concurring with Sitonkeni, Ruth Adamson age 20 from the same area, expressed her happiness upon acquiring skills in automobile mechanics.

Nsanje District labour officer, Trasizio Ngoma thanked AFM children care centre for complimenting government mandate of training more youth in line with the government blue print development agenda, the Malawi 2063.

He said "Here in Nsanje, we are doing well in providing informal trainings. Many youths fail to enroll in formal vocational centre because they do not have the Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) which is a requirement for admission. So, we glad and grateful to AFM for supporting the youths in Nsanje district."

AFM is assisting youths under its three year project dubbed ‘Not education not employment or not training’ with funding from Compassion International Malawi.