“Without being in a youth group, how could I have been? What I believe, my personal development has been influenced by being part of the youth group”, said Nelson Jackson.
Nelson Jackson is a youth from Mhonze street, at Shibula ward, Ilemela district, Mwanza region in Tanzania. In the district, Shibula is one of the wards that had many youths who were unemployed, mostly youths who did not have a chance to continue with higher learning institutions.
Nelson Jackson’s dream was to be a tour guide in the Tanzania National Parks. Because of the shortage of funds, he had to find a way to take himself into any business venture to secure funds. Nelson was neither confident, skilled in business, nor had the capital to start a venture. So, could it be easy for him and his dream?
The lone idea for Nelson was to engage with many people who would eventually give him ideas to become more successful. On his continuing search for a permanent solution for his personal development, he met youth who had the same idea, youth who were motivated to make a change in a community and individually at the same time.
In 2014, Nelson and his colleagues met with our organization, where we were also starting youth projects. Our organization helped their idea and officially they registered a youth group called ‘‘VIJANA MHONZE GROUP’’ Upon registering their group, these youths were able to get a lot of trainings from different people and organizations, they also got an opportunity to work with us in different projects including VUTAMDOGO (Pull the little ones) which was purposely for creating competency to grade one and two in the areas of arithmetic and reading skills, Youth leadership and community development project which helped them to be trained on different skills especially business and social issues.
After being is a youth group for a while, Nelson is saying several benefits have been able to come across him; he became a famous youth due to working on community awareness programs which in the end helped him to get petty works as he was trusted in the community, these small jobs helped him to get some income to take care of his mother and other relatives. He became more confident, and this helped him to face leaders in the community when the group needed help.
Nelson says ‘‘TAHEA seminars helped me to be confident because I had to face people in the community and teach them about different issues in the projects we are doing’’
Working in a youth group gave Nelson an opportunity to be part of the TAHEA Mwanza youth exchange program. Through this exchange program, he was able to visit Norway, where he studied and also did his internship in a new cultural environment.
Nelson says he had a vocational diploma in intercultural communications after learning cultural perspectives from different countries, but also many other sets of skills he acquired during an internship. From this exchange, Nelson says he got international working experience, explored new cultures, got new friends, and has a global mindset.
He added to say, this exchange experience was remarkable because his mom got an illness in a critical condition, and his friends in Norway fundraised to help his mom recover from the illness.
In addition, Nelson says that through being in VIJANA MHONZE GROUP, he was able to get training on early childhood development, a current project from our organization running through community systems, which includes youth community-based organizations.
Nelson says the project of creating early childhood education awareness has helped the community at large. There is an increase in pregnant women going to the clinic compared to the past years, there is a reduction of stunting among children in the community, but also, there have been big measures to ensure child safety and protection in the families.
VIJANA MHONZE GROUP has a microfinance department that helps them save some amount of money so that they can achieve their goals.
The savings plan has been successful through the training given to them. Nelson says he saved the amount of money from the petty works he got in the community, the stipend from an internship in Norway, and allowance from participating in different projects.
The money he saved helped him to buy a Motorcycle for transportation business, but also have a shop for mobile money transfer service (M-PESA). In his businesses, he has employed other youth who are benefiting from his business. He also has a plan to buy another Motorcycle and employ more youths.
Nelson is recommending that youth be in groups so that they can be able to exchange ideas and easily get training on what they want as a group and individually. The sharing of ideas and training will help them to develop in different ways, including financially.
Our organization is glad to see the impacts of investing in youth; we will continue to unleash youth potential through serving their communities for inclusive development.
From a stressful Unemployed life to a successful influential youth in the community
“Without being in a youth group, how could I have been? What I believe, my personal development has been influenced by being part of the youth group”, said Nelson Jackson.
Nelson Jackson is a youth from Mhonze street, at Shibula ward, Ilemela district, Mwanza region in Tanzania. In the district, Shibula is one of the wards that had many youths who were unemployed, mostly youths who did not have a chance to continue with higher learning institutions.
Nelson Jackson’s dream was to be a tour guide in the Tanzania National Parks. Because of the shortage of funds, he had to find a way to take himself into any business venture to secure funds. Nelson was neither confident, skilled in business, nor had the capital to start a venture. So, could it be easy for him and his dream?
The lone idea for Nelson was to engage with many people who would eventually give him ideas to become more successful. On his continuing search for a permanent solution for his personal development, he met youth who had the same idea, youth who were motivated to make a change in a community and individually at the same time.
In 2014, Nelson and his colleagues met with our organization, where we were also starting youth projects. Our organization helped their idea and officially they registered a youth group called ‘‘VIJANA MHONZE GROUP’’ Upon registering their group, these youths were able to get a lot of trainings from different people and organizations, they also got an opportunity to work with us in different projects including VUTAMDOGO (Pull the little ones) which was purposely for creating competency to grade one and two in the areas of arithmetic and reading skills, Youth leadership and community development project which helped them to be trained on different skills especially business and social issues.
After being is a youth group for a while, Nelson is saying several benefits have been able to come across him; he became a famous youth due to working on community awareness programs which in the end helped him to get petty works as he was trusted in the community, these small jobs helped him to get some income to take care of his mother and other relatives. He became more confident, and this helped him to face leaders in the community when the group needed help.
Nelson says ‘‘TAHEA seminars helped me to be confident because I had to face people in the community and teach them about different issues in the projects we are doing’’
Working in a youth group gave Nelson an opportunity to be part of the TAHEA Mwanza youth exchange program. Through this exchange program, he was able to visit Norway, where he studied and also did his internship in a new cultural environment.
Nelson says he had a vocational diploma in intercultural communications after learning cultural perspectives from different countries, but also many other sets of skills he acquired during an internship. From this exchange, Nelson says he got international working experience, explored new cultures, got new friends, and has a global mindset.
He added to say, this exchange experience was remarkable because his mom got an illness in a critical condition, and his friends in Norway fundraised to help his mom recover from the illness.
In addition, Nelson says that through being in VIJANA MHONZE GROUP, he was able to get training on early childhood development, a current project from our organization running through community systems, which includes youth community-based organizations.
Nelson says the project of creating early childhood education awareness has helped the community at large. There is an increase in pregnant women going to the clinic compared to the past years, there is a reduction of stunting among children in the community, but also, there have been big measures to ensure child safety and protection in the families.
VIJANA MHONZE GROUP has a microfinance department that helps them save some amount of money so that they can achieve their goals.
The savings plan has been successful through the training given to them. Nelson says he saved the amount of money from the petty works he got in the community, the stipend from an internship in Norway, and allowance from participating in different projects.
The money he saved helped him to buy a Motorcycle for transportation business, but also have a shop for mobile money transfer service (M-PESA). In his businesses, he has employed other youth who are benefiting from his business. He also has a plan to buy another Motorcycle and employ more youths.
Nelson is recommending that youth be in groups so that they can be able to exchange ideas and easily get training on what they want as a group and individually. The sharing of ideas and training will help them to develop in different ways, including financially.
Our organization is glad to see the impacts of investing in youth; we will continue to unleash youth potential through serving their communities for inclusive development.
Post Code
TAHEA Mwanza