Skills that open doors: How training is changing women’s lives

TANGA: FOR Mwamvita Kassim, life after completing Form Four in 2021 became a period of uncertainty.

Unable to qualify for advanced secondary education, her family enrolled her in tailoring, a practical skill they believed could lead to an income.

But tailoring was never her ambition. She wanted to study food processing, yet her family could not afford the fees at the Vocational Education and Training Authority (VETA).

After completing the tailoring course, another barrier emerged: She could not afford a sewing machine. From 2021 to 2025, she remained at home without a clear pathway into employment.

Her ambitions persisted, but the opportunity to pursue them seemed increasingly distant and uncertain.

Her situation changed after she learned about Wezesha Binti, an Enabel-supported programme designed to help young people, particularly girls, acquire vocational skills and improve their employment prospects.

For Mwamvita, the programme offered a chance to pursue the field she had chosen for herself. She enrolled in a threemonth food-processing course at VETA Kigoma before joining Third Man Limited, popularly known as Upendo Honey, for a three-month field attachment.

The placement connected classroom learning with practical workplace experience.

She was able to apply her training in a real work environment while acquiring additional skills that classroom training alone could not provide.

More importantly, the experience helped rebuild her confidence and improve her employment prospects.

The attachment later proved decisive. Several months after completing it, Upendo Honey needed additional staff and contacted Mwamvita.

She was offered a job, turning a short training pathway into her first employment opportunity.

She credits Enabel, VETA and Upendo Honey for creating an environment that combined training, practical exposure and access to employment.

Her experience illustrates a central lesson in vocational education: Skills become more valuable when learners can practise them, understand workplace expectations and build relationships with employers.

For young people facing barriers to employment, such connections can determine whether training ends with a certificate or leads to decent work.

Tanzania’s expanding economy is creating opportunities across agriculture, manufacturing, construction, fisheries, tourism and other sectors, increasing the importance of technical and vocational skills.

Yet, many young people remain poorly prepared to move from training into employment.

Gender stereotypes, high training costs, inadequate gender-responsive facilities, limited workplace experience and weak links between training institutions and employers can restrict access to vocational education and decent employment.

Women are particularly under-represented in technical and STEM-related fields and may also face discrimination, sexual harassment and other workplace barriers.

These challenges make skills development not only an education issue but also a question of inclusion and participation.

Against this backdrop, Enabel, the Belgian development agency, is working with the government to strengthen the quality, inclusiveness and relevance of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

Enabel has collaborated with the Tanzanian government since 1982 and is supporting skills-development interventions in Kigoma, Tanga, Mwanza and Pemba.

ALSO READ: Mafinga empowers youth through loan training

The agency is also among the official sponsors of Tanzania’s 2026 national skills competition, where participants from supported VET institutions have reached the national level, including competitors from VETA Tanga and FDC Kasulu.

Such progress demonstrates why investment in institutions, learner confidence, practical exposure and employer connections matters in helping young people transition from training to work.

A major component of this effort is the Government’s Centres of Vocational Excellence initiative. Enabel is supporting 11 public TVET institutions across Kigoma, Mwanza, Tanga and Pemba to progressively develop into such centres.

The transformation goes beyond construction and equipment. It includes stronger institutional leadership and governance, trainer development, industry partnerships, labourmarket-responsive curricula, teaching factories and improved quality assurance.

The support also covers modern training equipment, upgraded workshops, genderresponsive infrastructure, digital learning and continuous professional development for trainers and institutional leaders.

The objective is straightforward: Graduates should leave training institutions with competencies that match employers’ needs, rather than qualifications disconnected from workplace demands.

Girls and young women are a major focus because participation in vocational training is shaped by more than the availability of courses.

Enabel supports measures intended to make institutions safer and more inclusive, including Gender Support Centres, career guidance and counselling, childcare facilities for trainee mothers and safeguarding mechanisms.

These interventions address financial, social and practical barriers that can discourage women from entering or completing technical training.

The programme also promotes mentorship, internships and workplace preparation, helping girls move beyond certificates towards confidence, experience and economic independence.

The broader objective is to enable young women to enter technical occupations and pursue both employment and entrepreneurship. The transition from vocational training to employment remains one of the biggest challenges facing young graduates.

Enabel is addressing this by strengthening collaboration between TVET institutions and employers through curriculum reviews, trainer upskilling, industrial attachments, internships, Employer Engagement Days and career guidance.

By August 2026, 300 graduates, including 204 women and 96 men, had secured decent employment through partnerships with public- and private-sector employers, among them Upendo Honey and other industries.

The programme also identified 324 employment and workplace-learning opportunities through partnerships involving TANESCO, TRC/SGR, Kigoma Airport, Qilin Cement, TARURA, TANROADS, KUWASA, TPA and TEMESA. Such partnerships create practical routes from training into employment.

In Kigoma, Mwamvita’s experience forms part of wider results from Wezesha Binti, which operates in five of the region’s six districts.

More than 2,500 young people, 60 per cent of them girls, have completed vocational training through Work-Based Learning and Recognition of Prior Learning pathways.

The programme is also promoting entrepreneurship. Some 907 young people have received entrepreneurship training and business coaching, contributing to the establishment of 296 new enterprises.

These businesses have created 225 new jobs, while 315 existing jobs have been sustained.

This demonstrates how vocational programmes can combine technical skills, workplace learning and enterprise development to expand opportunities beyond formal employment.

Beyond Kigoma, Enabel is implementing the Inclu-Cities project, funded through the European Union’s SASA Programme, to support youth skills development in Tanga, Mwanza and Pemba.

Four VET centres targeted for upgrading have improved their infrastructure and equipped workshops with modern, industry-relevant tools and technologies.

Trainer development is another priority. A total of 79 VSD teachers and instructors, including 49 men and 30 women, have received training in modern pedagogical and technical skills.

The programme has supported NACTIVET accreditation for eight sector-based curricula, 12 Work-Readiness Programme modular courses and eight CPD/MTC modular courses.

The training is aligned with opportunities in fish processing, seaweed and food-related sectors.

Female participation among supported trainees has reached 59 per cent, while the WorkReadiness Programme has enrolled 647 young people and linked 636 trainees with industry mentors or career coaches.

A further 36 private-sector partners have signed Memoranda of Understanding with VET centres, strengthening cooperation in practical training, mentorship and workplace exposure.

The approach reflects a simple principle: Training should respond to actual economic needs.

According to Kikolo Mwakasungula, Inclu-Cities Project Manager, close collaboration with industry gives young people more than technical knowledge.

It provides exposure, builds confidence and gives them a clearer understanding of what employers expect, how workplaces operate and what is required to perform effectively.

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is another important component.

It allows young people and experienced workers who have acquired competencies through informal employment, apprenticeships, self-employment or non-formal training to have those skills assessed and certified.

For people whose practical abilities have never been reflected in formal qualifications, RPL can open pathways to decent employment, further training and career progression.

It is particularly relevant to women and disadvantaged groups whose skills and experience might otherwise remain undocumented or undervalued.

Alongside technical training, the programmes are strengthening soft skills, including communication, teamwork, professionalism, leadership, problem-solving and workplace ethics.

Ultimately, Tanzania’s investment in vocational education should be measured not simply by the number of people trained or certificates issued, but by what happens afterwards.

For women such as Mwamvita, the real value of skills training is realised when it opens the door to a job, a business, greater confidence and economic independence.

Her journey offers an important lesson: Training becomes transformative when it is connected to real opportunities.