Tailoring Project

Name of project:	Tailoring
Date commenced:	October
Number of students and gender:	2 Males, 21 Females
Prepared by:	Damas Musonda
Tutor:	Abraham Lengwe
Physical Address:	Main Social Club, Chililabombwe, Zambia
Postal Address:	P.O.Box 210809, Lubengele, Copperbelt, Zambia.
Website:	www.fypdo.org
Email:	dmuso2008@gmail.comKebby.shampongo@gmail.com
Telephone Number:	02600978736780
Products:	Casual shirts, safari suits and chitenge suits
Project Costs	$2,400.00 annually

 

About Youth Press Development Organization (YPDO)

YPDO is a non-profit, non-governmental body registered under the Registrar of Societies of Zambia. Founded in 2003, YPDO endeavours to reduce poverty and mitigate the impact of diseases like HIV/AIDS and malaria which plague the youth of Chililabombwe District in Zambia. The organization sets out to accomplish its mission by equipping the affected youth with skills to succeed in the information age. YPDO believes that economic development and human welfare are sustainable through increased knowledge and literacy, self-reliance and empowerment. Therefore, YPDO’s projects provide the tools, resources, training, and venue which allow these vulnerable segments of society to take control of their lives and work towards a brighter future.

OBJECTIVES AND VISION

The Youth Press and Development Organization’s objective is to see development in our impoverished community through sustainable means. The YPDO has identified several projects to enable it to carry out its objectives. The projects include Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) training, tailoring and carpentry. It is the organization’s belief that if these skills are imparted to the locals it will help them sustain their livelihood.

The YPDO has implemented the following projects:

• Information Communication Technologies (ICTs)
•  Tailoring and Design

We intend to start a carpentry project as soon as we have enough space and resources.

The Tailoring project has attracted 23 students of which 2 are males from disadvantaged backgrounds. The project seeks to empower them with skills in income-generating activities. They are likely to graduate in May 2011 and eventually write examinations under the vocational and technical examinations board.

The YPDO believes that, despite the challenges, people have diverse talents and can achieve their objectives and economic independence through skills training.

WORK AID

The Youth Press and Development Organization has been partnering with wellwishers and other organizations to help facilitate its programs. In view of this, YPDO received donations of carpentry and tailoring tools from Work Aid. These were for the establishment of a skills training institute for the local community. Though the project’s launch was delayed due to a cholera outbreak in the area, it was launched last year in August.

SKILLS TRAINING SCHOOL

The tailoring classes have already been established, but we are currently working on the establishment of carpentry classes.

TAILORING SCHOOL

The establishment of the school has received an overwhelming response from the locals. But due to the limited number of sewing machines, we only enrolled twenty (20) students. The performance of the students has been quite favourable. As a result, most students plan to take examinations at the end of the course.

BENEFITS TO THE COMMUNITY

The tailoring project has been beneficial to students and the community as whole.

Megan Chisha (Student, 34, single parent with four children)

‘’The training has been excellent. I have learned to construct and sew clothes. This has reduced my costs of buying clothes. I am able to make uniforms for the children at a cheaper cost than buying. I am able to raise revenue from the sale of the products I make’’ says Megan.

Problems faced by the school:

• Insufficient machines – the response of the community has been overwhelming but we can only accommodate a small number of men and women.
• Inadequate space – We are working on finding alternative project accommodation to allow optimal utilisation of space.
• Due to heavily subsidised fees, the project is looking at alternative ways to meet the costs of operations and production.

Entrepreneurial Approach

In order to overcome some of the problems cited above, the organization has decided to approach the project in an entrepreneurial way. Under this approach, the students will make some products for sale. The revenue collected will help meet the operating costs of the project. In the long run, we hope to use this approach to help graduates start up permanent businesses. We hope to have a dual approach to the project thus making mining dress suits for sale to the mining firms  and contractors and our friends in the USA, UK and other parts of the world will help us secure markets (eBay) and consequently sell our targeted products.

PRODUCTS

We have identified the following:

      African cultural wear for export

• casual shirts
• chitenge suits
• safari suits

Schools and Mining wear

• school uniforms
• work suits for mines