By EMMANUEL ZIMBA –

THE Government plans to establish resource youth centres in all the 105 districts in the country, Youth and Sports Permanent Secretary Agnes Musunga has said.
Ms Musunga said this was in a bid to ensure that youths took charge of their personal development and became patriotic citizens capable of making a positive contribution to the country’s development.
Ms Musunga said that her ministry was responsible for developing, implementing and monitoring policies for youths and sports development in the country.
She said this when she met a Korean clergyperson Oack Soo Park, who is the founder of the International Youth Fellowship.
Ms Musunga said the ministry had 19 operational youth resource centres mostly located in rural areas while eight more were under construction.
She said the 19 resource centres trained on average of 3,600 youths per year, who acquired various skills to set up micro-enterprises to help them become self-reliant.
“In running these centres, we work in liaison with the Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA) to ensure that the curriculum at each centre is demand-driven to suit the needs of the community,” Ms Musunga said.
She called on the students to have the right mindset and attitudes for them to utilise the acquired skills in a manner that could contribute to personal and community development.
Ms Musunga cited the Kalingalinga Youth Resource Centre in Lusaka as one of those that had trained around 8,000 youths from the time it was established while a further 520 youths were scheduled to graduate soon.
“The skills acquired are like hardware for a computer and their mindset is like software that enables the computer to function properly, and even human beings need both vocational skills and the right mindset to function efficiently,” she said.
Pastor Soo Park urged the youth to exercise patience in all their endeavours, be hopeful and remain focused.