Enhancing education and employability in Malawi

SMEC’s Social Development team in Africa are celebrating the successful completion of our role in providing third-party validation for the Government of Malawi’s Skills Development Project.

SMEC’s Social Development team in Africa are celebrating the successful completion of our role in providing third-party validation for the Government of Malawi’s Skills Development Project.

This project was rolled out by the Malawi government to selected public institutions (Chancellor College, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mzuzu University and Polytechnic) and the Technical, Entrepreneurship and Vocational Education Training Authority (TEVETA), with support from the World Bank. The project aimed to improve employment outcomes and develop job-ready skills among youth and under-served populations, by helping the participating institutions to become more accessible, relevant to market, and results-oriented.

SMEC was commissioned by the Malawi Government’s National Council for Higher Education to provide third party validation of the progress against yearly targets set for the institutions. This involved first developing a detailed methodology for assessing results against each indicator, then assessing progress against agreed targets.

A total of 81 results were assessed from the five institutions, against six overarching indicators. Of these 81 results, a total of 79 had been fully achieved, meaning a success rate of 96.3%.

Attendees at the project completion workshop felt that the skills development project was a huge success. Most of the institutions involved were eager to progress to Phase 2 of the program, carry forward the momentum and leverage the benefits to more segments of the population.

Commenting on the successful delivery of the project, Functional Manager - Social Development Mrityunjay Jha said, “The successful delivery of this project means that these institutions are in a much stronger position to help more Malawians develop job ready skills and secure livelihoods.”