Students in Konexio’s Malawi program have completed their skills training and are moving into the practical part of the course, while engagement continues through workshops for our alumni students from previous cohorts.
The current group of students are actively earning income during freelancing, and have all successfully registered on at least one platform, overcoming a major hurdle for refugees, who lack easily-recognized identification. Their next big challenge is to land clients. So far, some have been successful, finding a niche in translation and AI data annotation.
“We are very encouraged by the success of the students in securing opportunities early into the freelance practicals,” states Dieudonne Mampasi, Project Coordinator in JRS Malawi. “The [digital skills] program facilitators are working with students to help them customize their profiles and write winning proposals that translate to jobs. With the current results, we expect more and more students to secure their first jobs before their graduation in mid-August.”
“Living in the camp here in Malawi is difficult to go out there and look for work outside the camp, and the voluntary work we do does not bring much money for someone to survive,” says Nancy Kaboo, a DIP student. “Thanks to the program and its facilitators, I now now work build a career as professional translator and hopefully also do transcription work”
Whenever possible, we invite alumni back to the campus to meet current students and participate in workshops training. Currently, we have workshops ongoing at the JRS center to provide this group with an opportunity to continue sharpening their digital capacities within an ever evolving job market. The workshops are expected to continue for a couple more weeks to encourage the diversification of the beneficiaries’ skill sets and hone their ability to competitively participate on platforms and prepare them for the next level.
“It is always good to be back at the center and support the program. My wish is for them (Konexio and JRS) to continue shaping the life of other refugees in the camp,” says Imaculee Gahizi, an alumni from our first cohort. “I am also glad to be a part of the workshops to share and address common challenges and issues we face in our freelance work, and I can say I am learning from ideas and methods shared by the trainers and other freelancers.”
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