Tackling youth unemployment in Tanzania.
Hawa, 23, is from Iringa, a town in central Tanzania. She grew up with two brothers, two sisters and a single mother who is now retired and subsistence farms for a living.
Hawa heard about Restless Development in 2019 when she was invited to attend an International Youth Day event in the capital city of Dodoma.
I now believe that I can make a change and through teaching I can share the skills I learnt with others.
The International Youth Day event brought together young people, government and local organisations to tackle youth unemployment. In Tanzania, youth unemployment is a big issue with more than one in ten young people out of work.
“I got a chance to attend a Restless Development training. It was so good and welcoming. The facilitators were teaching with love and you could tell they really enjoyed it. I wanted to be like them.”
During the training, Hawa and other young people learnt about leadership, employability and entrepreneurship.
“What I learnt the most from the training is if you have a growth mindset you can do anything. I also learnt to completely change the way I write my CV.“
Leading as a peer educator.
Hawa now volunteers with Restless Development as a peer educator. She teaches extra curricular classes at Mikocheni Secondary School l. Her classes include topics such as goal setting, volunteering, increasing your confidence, CV writing, interview skills and problem solving techniques. Her class is so popular that it’s increased from 50 to 80 students in just two months.
The sessions are very participatory. Students are encouraged to speak up, share their thoughts and learn through presentations and role plays.
“I love teaching and making an impact. Sometimes instead of me teaching, I ask students to lead the sessions. I give them time to prepare and they teach the class. They are already improving. I have seen that a few shy students are now confident and speak up in front of the entire class.”
But it doesn’t stop there. Hawa is also in the process of starting her own recycling business and is about to get her identification number from the Tanzania Revenue Authorities. She is setting up the company with friends who want to tackle climate change since higher temperatures, more flooding and drought are already threatening the livelihoods of millions of Tanzanians.
Restless Development is working with over 430 former volunteers in Tanzania like Hawa, who are sharing their leadership, employability and entrepreneurship learnings to over 2,600 young people, both in and out-of-school.
Restless Development has helped me set my own goals. I can’t just teach, I have to lead by example. My family is so proud of me.
What’s next?
