Vera Schaffer
Program Manager DR Congo
â–º E-mail
Project Number: 197.1809
The vocational school in Wamba-Luadi offers solid vocational training as a carpenter, in the building trade and, since 2022, also in forestry, education and business as part of a four-year course. It is a state-recognized training institute with its own facilities and accommodation for students and teaching staff. Thanks to their training at the training center, young men and women are given a good chance on the job market. After completing their apprenticeship, carpentry graduates receive a set of tools, which is an important start to their careers.
Background information
| Young adults in the Democratic Republic of the Congo have few career prospects. On average, 41 percent of young people between the ages of 15 and 24 are unemployed. This makes it difficult for many to support themselves, start a family and build a self-determined existence, to develop according to their abilities and to participate and contribute as full members of society. Young people from rural areas are particularly affected by unemployment, for example in the isolated and inaccessible province of Kwango in the west of the country. They lack vocational training opportunities. Against this backdrop, the vocational school in Wamba-Luadi is of central importance. The village is located around 600 kilometers from the capital Kinshasa. The school was founded in 1983 with the support of the Evangelical Mission in Kwango (EMIK) as a vocational school and has been run by the partner church CEK ever since. In the meantime, the craft school has become a state-recognized vocational school with training opportunities that offer career prospects in Kwango. |
Project goals
| Thanks to good learning services, the vocational school in Wamba-Luadi can position itself as a leading and independent vocational school in Kwango Province. It contributes to the development of rural society and promotes, among other things, the production of affordable furniture and sustainable construction with locally produced materials. It also works to combat the effects of climate change by achieving reforestation, forest conservation and bushfire suppression. |
Target group
| The vocational school offers three-year vocational training to young people, young men and, to a lesser extent, women. They come from the province of Kwango and their training lays the foundations for improving their chances on the job market. The vocational school graduates are also accompanied and supported after their studies in order to find a job. |
Activities
| The vocational school offers a solid four-year education in various fields for young adults from the province of Kwango: carpentry, bricklaying and other building trades, forestry, education and commercial training. Further training for the teachers. The vocational school is improving its infrastructure and offering learners good jobs, hand tools and accommodation. Promotion of the vocational school's own income through the sale of furniture and the establishment of a school garden. Increasing income opportunities for graduates by handing over tools and setting up production facilities. Commitment to protecting nature and the environment: reforestation, fighting bushfires, forest protection and seedling production. |
Project progress
| The education, carpentry, bricklaying and commercial training courses, as well as the forestry specialization, will continue as planned. With 97 students (in 2023), carpentry training remains by far the most important training course. 14 young men were enrolled in the bricklayer apprenticeship and 30 young adults in the other apprenticeships (16 of whom were young women). Infrastructure projects, among other things, were implemented during the non-teaching periods, and there are also reforestation measures on site and some distance away to promote a sustainable timber industry on the one hand and to counteract climate change on the other. As part of the long-standing collaboration with the Philipp-Matthäus-Hahn-Schule in Nürtingen, the trained carpenters are given tool kits. This basic equipment is intended to make it easier for the young professionals to enter working life. |
DR Congo
- 99 million inhabitants
- 97 students are enrolled at the Wamba-Luadi vocational school
Project budget 2024
CHF 44'850
