Youth income generating groups show promise

BEITBRIDGE: The challenge of unemployment and underemployment persists in Zimbabwe. The Beitbridge, a border district in Zimbabwe’s of Matabeleland South province, has not been spared from this phenomenon and young people in the area have largely responded by crossing the border to South Africa. Those who remain behind have resigned themselves to the realities of unclear prospects. However, some young people are finding ways out of unemployment and poverty through participating in income generating projects.

Clinate Sithole, 19 year old, sits outside the family home, she hides from the intense Beitbridge heat under the tree. With a beaming smile, she greets fellow villagers as they walk by, they are all potential customers for the egg business. Clinate is part of a group of five enterprising young people, who with ILO support came together to form a self-help group. Through the ILO Training for Rural Economic Empowerment (TREE), a local economic development methodology, the young people were assisted in the identification of unmet local economic needs and provided with community-based technical and vocational skills. The project strategy aims to improve the livelihoods of the community by introducing income-generating activities, formation of self-help groups, creation of savings schemes and other economic opportunities.

The training empowered the young people with poultry production skills. As part of their training, they received inputs to start-up the project and have reinvested their profits from subsequent business cycles. The local community, District Administrator, various Government departments and social partners supported the process at all the stages from the identification of opportunities to the provision of post-training support. The programme has made a deliberate effort to rely on the specialized government departments to offer support to the young people such as the Department of Agriculture and Rural Extension (Agritex). This ensures sustainability as youth will continue to receive guidance after the ILO’s programme ends.

The young people were encouraged to form self-help groups as a sustainable safety net strategy. They were provided with assistance in group formation. The young people attribute the group cohesion that exists to their training. “We had a shared vision from the onset, and we were lucky to have spelt out how each member would contribute to the group”, said Manuel Muleya, the 26 year old group Chairperson. The group also has a Secretary and a Treasurer, who ensure that the finances and records are in order. Leadership roles are rotated among the members. The group members point out, with pride that each member pulls their own weight and the roles are clear, particularly in terms of how to manage sales and to account for the funds.


In order to shield the youth from income shocks, the District Implementation Committee (DIC) guided the youth to have multiple income streams, albeit within the poultry industry, in addition to broilers that are slaughtered for sale, the young people are also rearing egg layers. The sale of eggs has ensured the business has a regular cash flow. The revenue generated is used to procure stock feed and chemicals for the broilers. The DIC anticipated that the demand for chickens would not be consistent and assisted the group with the procurement of a fridge. This allows them to store the chickens until there is demand. In the past, the youths were under pressure to sell them to ensure they do not continue to feed the chickens beyond six weeks, often leading to selling the chickens at lower prices. Although the purchase of the fridge was initially meant for storage, the young people have also realized they can be selling refreshments to the local community.

On their future dreams, the youth are keen to expand, “We are currently slaughtering birds once every six weeks but the next time you visit us we will be having three batches that we will be slaughtering every two weeks’’, said Mandla with a look of pride on his face. The group speaks of growth with conviction, they are committed to their business and they point to the fact that in the last five cycles most of their profits have been reinvested.