WINDHOEK– The Namibia National Youth Programme (NNYP) has started with a programme to equip youth in villages all over the country with baking skills to help them become self-employed.
This initiative, part of the NNYP’s project titled ‘Rural Development Baking Project (RDBP)’ has already started with ten youths from the village of Gochas. The vision of the programme is to equip women with a skill that will allow them to either start their own baking businesses or to get jobs in restaurants, food chain outlets or lodges. “We believe that with this skill these young women will be able to empower themselves one way or another if they use the skill wisely,” says Tao !Noarises, President of NNYP. During the training, trainees were taught personal and kitchen hygiene, bread baking, cake baking and biscuit baking. Each participant got a kitchen aid package which included a spatula, a rolling pan, a mixing bowl, a measuring cup, biscuit cutters, a biscuit pan, a bread pan and a cake pan which they took home after the training.
“The duration of the training is one week and it is more practical than theoretical. We give them an aid package because we figured there is no point in teaching people a skill but then they have nothing to start with,” she says. The training is the first of its kind in the country and is done in conjunction with Alliance of Mayors on HIV and AIDS in Africa (AMICAALL) Namibia, which is a donor funded through the Ministry of Health and Social Services to mitigate the impact of HIV and AIDS at a local level. “We will train ten young people in each village. We hope to increase the numbers and make the RDBP a fully fletched nationwide project with proper funding. I believe this is possible,” says !Noarises.
The NNYP is a youth organisation registered with the National Youth Council of Namibia (NYCM) and receives its funding from the Council for its projects. The next training will take place in Okombahe, a settlement in the Erongo region which is the closest village to Martin Luther High School where most of the organisation’s executive members went to school.