The World Bank on Wednesday started its mission to Malawi for the Skills for a Vibrant Economy (Save) Project.

The project is aimed at increasing access, particularly for female students, to skills development programmes in priority areas of the economy that are most relevant to the labour market.

The mission is being led by the project’s task team leader, Veronica Grigera who set off by paying a courtesy call on Principal Secretaries Chikondano Mussa and Wezzie Kaira for Education and Labour, respectively at Capital Hill in Lilongwe on Wednesday.

The two ministries are implementing the project to provide skills development support through programmes offered in selected tertiary educational institutions spanning higher education and technical, entrepreneurial, and vocational education and training (Tevet).

Grigera (M) with Mussa (L) and Kaira
after the meeting at Capital Hill

Mussa said there have been a lot of lessons learnt in the implementation of previous projects by the bank and there was need for expediency in using that experience to remove any bottlenecks that stand in the way of achieving project goals.

She said: “Let’s keep our communication lines open and make decisions quickly to see that this project moves forward.”

The mission will meet the project’s institutional implementation teams and hold discussions on the status of procurement, financial management, environmental and social safeguards and monitoring and evaluation.

The World Bank team will also meet students and academic staff in priority areas of the economy and visit proposed construction sites.

Earlier in the day on Wednesday, the World Bank team visited Lilongwe Technical College, one of the project’s implementing institutions where they were shown the site of a 120-bed girls’ hostel.

The Save project will support nine higher education institutions, seven national technical colleges, and about 30 skills development institutions.

During its lifetime, it will benefit 45 000 university students and 65 000 technical and vocational students.

The Save project is worth $100 million of which 50 million is a loan and 50 million is a grant.

The project became effective on October 14 last year.

The post World Bank starts mission to Malawi for Skills project appeared first on The Nation Online.