Tarbiat Vocational Center, Swaziland

Target Population

At present we are targeting 8 to 10 indigenous Swazi youth aged 18 to 25 years but if we manage to get more funds we will increase this number accordingly and take in younger students.

Project Duration

The project will continue, as long as there will be a need for this kind of education. The project will have income from the sale of honey, also from the return of the product or the money received from students who have completed the program.

Project Phases

Tarbiat Vocational Center is a service of Tarbiat Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organization active in Swaziland.

The project is divided into two phases. During the first year of the first phase of the project, 8 to 10 students who have already graduated from high school will be trained in specific income producing trades and skills. The technical training will be simultaneously augmented by moral education to help them develop the capabilities they need to make healthy life choices. This process will be documented and evaluated for reference and use of other organization involved in combating the AIDS epidemic. During this phase, and in the following three years, the Tarbiat Vocational Center also intends to become financially self-supporting, and will conduct annual evaluation of its outcomes.

The focus of the second phase of the project will be students who, due to financial difficulties, have not graduated from high school. The duration of the program will hence be extended to two years to accommodate their specific educational needs. It is hoped that this phase will be initiated in the second year of the project.

Fighting AIDS

According to the latest UN reports, the AIDS epidemic is killing a third of the 15- to 45-year-old population in this region. Founders of Tarbiat Foundation believe that the methods used thus far for combatting AIDS, safe sex, use of condoms etc., have failed in Swaziland.

We believe that the method to fight this epidemic and the growing unemployment is through moral education and imparting of income-generating skills.

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Bee Keeping & Computers

Two particular income producing and skill building ventures are the focuses of this project: Bee Hives & honey production and computer-based training.

Market analyses suggest that production of honey as a commodity is a viable economic activity in Swaziland. Only 40% of the honey consumed in Swaziland is produced in the country, part of which is naturally produced in the wild. The climate of this country is also very suitable for honey production. In addition, surplus honey is deemed exportable to neighboring countries.

Tarbiat Vocation Center, therefore, will focus its efforts in the first year of the first phase of the project, on the students who have already graduated from high school to train them in two areas: Bee hives keepers and computer-based skills.

During this phase, the students will be taught to build beehives, work with bees, multiply them, become knowledgeable about bees' diseases, as well as the proper handling of honey. As a compliment to these basic skills, they will also learn the fundamentals of business management to enable them to manage their own business. While learning, they will build their own beehives at the Center's workshop from the material provided by the Center. They will then multiply the Center's bees to populate their own beehives. At the completion of the first year, these students will go to the different parts of the country and settle as rural facilitators to assist others with their new skills. The school will buy the honey from its alumni and market it, and thereby guaranteeing a market, while at the same time generating an income for the Center. Continual in-service training sessions will assure that the alumni will further enrich their educational experience.

For those students who cannot, or do not like to work with bees, job related computer-based training in software applications, such as graphic design, or spreadsheet, will be offered.

In the second phase of the project, the Center plans to expand the program to include students that due to their financial problems have not been able to finish high school. The Center anticipates that this phase will begin in the second year, and plans to enlist the volunteer services of five instructors. Government and private educational facilities will be used for this purpose.

How You Can Help

Please contact us or send your tax-deductible contributions to:

Mona Foundation
218 Main Street, Suite 404
Kirkland, WA 98033
(425) 743-4550
Email: monafoundation@monafoundation.org
Online: Contribute Online with your Credit Card Here

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