The Livingstone Foundation course with Zambian Youth and Livingstone Partners volunteers starts in 2023

Project Luangwa and Chipembele, two NGOs in Zambia that are deeply committed to community development and running school development programs, aim to invest not only in youth education but also in the future of Zambia. Livingstone has worked closely with both NGOs for years through the Livingstone Foundation.

Over the last few years, the organizations have detected that the brightest students that manage to find sponsorship to go on to University and College are out of their depth when moving to a city. Students coming from a rural environment often lack knowledge of budgeting, timekeeping, teamwork, and presentation skills.

Both NGOs have initiated a foundation course for new university students that takes place after finishing secondary school and before heading to university. The courses are set up around the themes of building confidence and learning key life skills. The Livingstone Foundation has sponsored these training courses since 2018. In close cooperation with the Foundation, Livingstone launched its first volunteer program in May 2023. All Livingstone employees were called upon to apply to the program and to go as volunteers to the Luangwa Valley to teach the students of these courses public speaking, Excel, and entrepreneurship.

Inma Vidal, Associate at Livingstone in Spain, was the very first participant in this exchange program. In August 2023, she departed from Valencia to spend two weeks in Africa.

“I had the great opportunity to be the first Livingstone employee to take advantage of the volunteer program in Mfuwe, Zambia. The volunteer program is a collaboration with the Livingstone Foundation. As part of the experience, I had the chance to teach two groups of pre-university students useful skills for their future, such as public speaking, Excel, and entrepreneurship. Teaching those kids was an absolute pleasure. They were very keen to learn new things, and although they were shy at first, by the end of the first day, they had opened up and participated in all the activities. They especially enjoyed the Excel class, as it was something they had not been able to learn much of previously. The goal was to teach them skills that can be used later on in their professional and personal life and to give them a bit of preparation before they join university,” reports Inma Vidal from her visit to Zambia. “While in Mfuwe, I also got to see the impact the Livingstone Foundation has made on the region through the funding of several boreholes, the new buildings for the school in Kapita, their conservation efforts in Chipembele and the growth of Chikowa’s trade school, which has received over 90 applications for next year, a record for the school.“

Providing Zambia’s youth with additional knowledge can create a new and more empowered generation that has the potential to become the changemakers, innovators, and leaders of tomorrow, and that is exactly what the Livingstone Foundation wants to help achieve.