How MIF is Leveraging Vocational Education to Job Opportunities Among Youth in Zanzibar
In the remote corners of Zanzibar, where access to education and opportunity often seems out of reach, a quiet but powerful transformation is unfolding. Through its innovative vocational education program, the Mwanamke Initiatives Foundation (MIF) is restoring hope and unlocking the potential of marginalized youth particularly young women, orphans, and those from low-income or single-parent households. With each skill gained and each venture launched, smiles are returning to the faces of youth, majority being girls, once left behind.
A Lifeline for Dropouts and Dreamers
Four years ago, Hon Wanou Hafidh Ameir, Founding Chair of the Mwanamke Initiatives Foundation called a few friends and colleagues and told them her dream: a dream of changing the life pattern of majority of girls in Zanzibar especially those in the marginalized communities. It is a story of possibility, resilience, and transformation. She wanted to transform hopelessness, to new opportunities. She wanted to convent barriers to bridges.
The reason for her day revolutionary dream was on the fact Zanzibar has continued to grapple with high dropout rates in secondary schools, especially in remote areas. With fewer than 40% of Form Two leavers progressing to higher education, and most vocational centers favoring male learners in urban areas, the odds have been stacked against rural girls and youth with disabilities for too long.
Through the Foundation she formulated, MIF has lived the dream by recognizing this gap as a call to action. Instead of letting the Zanzibar girls’ dreams fade, they created a model that turns vocational education into a ladder of opportunity delivering not just training, but dignity, self-reliance, and renewed ambition.
Skills for Today and Tomorrow
Through a structured and inclusive model, MIF identifies vulnerable youth in collaboration with District Commissioners and partner women groups. Once selected, these youths are supported to join accredited training centers, with full scholarships covering tuition, transport, learning tools, and medical needs.
The training isn’t just about acquiring a trade. Whether learning tailoring, ICT, agriculture, or electrical repair, students also build entrepreneurial thinking, problem-solving, and digital literacy. These are “future-ready” skills ensuring learners don’t just find jobs, but create them.
"Youth participating in practical training on tailoring and domestic electricity, as shown in the image.”
Forming Groups, Building Ventures
After graduation, MIF helps youth form groups based on shared interests, laying the foundation for collaboration, mentorship, and small-scale enterprise development. For tailoring groups, MIF goes a step further—acquiring and distributing sewing machines to ensure that these young entrepreneurs can immediately begin producing and selling their work with ready to go investment capital.
This group-based approach creates peer support systems and enhances sustainability. It bridges the critical gap between learning and earning— empowering youth to transform skills into livelihoods
From Classrooms to Capital
Graduation isn't the end—it’s the beginning. MIF ensures that every graduate is supported to open a bank account, connected with micro-finance institutions, and guided through the process of acquiring start-up capital. These connections are vital in helping young entrepreneurs—particularly women—launch businesses and generate income right in their communities.
To date, over 110 youth (including 80 young women) have graduated through this program, boasting a 98% completion rate.
Planting Seeds of Change
This model is more than an education program—it’s a movement. By reaching the last-mile youth with practical, market-relevant skills and the support needed to apply them, MIF is directly contributing to Zanzibar’s local economy through self employment hence creating job opportunities for those who otherwise would have been lost and forgotten. The process is also “a good to learn” enterprise that responds to the global goals of inclusivity and sustainability.
The pride and joy seen in the eyes of these young graduates tell a powerful story. They are no longer seen as dropouts or dependents, but as skilled artisans, innovators, and leaders of tomorrow.
A Call to Collaborate
Looking ahead, MIF is formalizing a scalable model aimed at engaging a broad coalition of stakeholders—including the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, development partners, and the private sector. The goal is ambitious yet urgent: to transform vocational education into a truly inclusive engine for opportunity, ensuring that no youth, especially no girl, is left behind. With the Government’s growing commitment to vocational training, the moment is ripe not just to expand access to skills development, but to reimagine the entire ecosystem that supports young people from learning to earning, and ultimately, thriving.
