Digital Flowers: A Vocational Training Programme to Equip Young Mothers with Commercial Flower Production Skills and Link Them with Extension Services Using a Digital Tool

Initial vocational education and training
22.02.2024
Between August and November 2023, the Skills for Employment Tanzania (SET) project in partnership with Nexis Africa Limited implemented the “Digital Flower” training programme in Morogoro Municipal. 150 young mothers were equipped with technical skills for commercial flower production and corresponding complementary services, like flower pot making. They were also trained on a digital application known as “Shamba+” (Swahili for “Farm”) to link them with remote extension services and on the use of social media as a marketing tool for their flower products.

"We have been trained on the Shamba+ app, a free text-based application that helps us ask questions about flower diseases, measures to overcome them, and receive professional advice on flower production," said Happy David."I personally find the Shamba+ app helpful because it provides access to relevant information on how to care for flowers. I hope that with access to such quality information, my future in this business will be promising," adds Happy.

105 young mothers successfully completed the training at the end of 2023 and will now embark on the journey of starting their own commercial flower business. Some committed young mothers were additionally supported with start-up kits to kick start their flower business.

“In our group we are five young mothers and we were provided with start-up kits to begin our own flower garden which is currently in progress. Personally, I expect to start my own business by June 2024.” explains Happy.

 

Happy holding some flowers at her flower garden
Tanzania
Initial vocational education and training, Labour market insertion
Skills for Employment Tanzania

The Skills for Employment Tanzania (SET) Project seeks to improve self-employment prospects among the youth through the contribution to improved access, relevance and quality of vocational skills development.
Youth have difficulty finding employment due to limited access to skills training and a mismatch between available skills training and the...