Zambia has one of the youngest populations globally, with over 65% under 25 years old. Young people face challenges like high unemployment, limited access to education, and systemic barriers –Â especially for women and girls.
But young people represent a tremendous opportunity for economic growth and innovation.
The construction sector, a priority in the Zambian Government’s Eighth National Development Plan, has the potential to employ many young people. With the right training and support, this sector can drive Zambia’s future prosperity, champion green construction and empower women to break into the industry.
Build It has strong foundations and bold ambitions. We believe our model has the potential to transform construction skills training in Zambia.
Our new strategy introduces new actions to realise this potential. By working with the construction sector, we are collaborating with an industry that is critical to Zambia’s future prosperity and in urgent need of young, skilled workers. By focusing on quality education, skills training and employment opportunities, we can help more young people contribute to Zambia’s economic growth, improving lives for families and communities across the country.
This strategy underpins our belief that we can best serve young people in Zambia living below the poverty line by helping to equip them with the skills and confidence to build livelihoods in Zambia’s growing construction sector.
These are our four objectives to be achieved over the life of the strategy to increase and deepen our approach:
Training is at the heart of our impact. Over the next three years, we’ll expand our reach and scale through partnerships. We will train more young people at our Centre for Excellence and community build projects, offer offsite training with partners and help institutions attract and support female students. Sharing our Career Development programmes and collaborating with new partners, will help us shape the future of TEVT education.
Our construction projects allow us to deliver our training in under-developed rural and peri-urban communities. They are also an important way to test and advance building methods. We will share designs, costs and techniques to enable communities to replicate our work. Our structures will be greener and more cost-effective, and we will launch a new sustainable construction training module.
We aim to establish ourselves as the leading construction-focused training institution in Zambia, receiving recognition and validation for our efforts. By developing partnerships with research institutions and academia, and producing high-quality research, we will enhance our credibility and influence. This will help support our wider strategic goals.
To ensure sustainability and growth, we will enhance fundraising, aim to become locally led, and develop strong global partnerships. Developing global and local programme and funding partners will extend our resilience, reach and effectiveness, allowing us to better meet the needs of young people in Zambia.
