The African Development Bank (AfDB) has tipped the Malawi government to put much emphasis on investing in youth and women in order to realise the much-touted one million jobs.

The Bank’s Country Manager Macmillan Anyanwu said during handover of Mbandira Community Technical College in Nkhitakota under Jobs For Youth (J4Y) project.

According to Anyanwu, both youth and women make majority of the population and they need to be uplifted through investing in opportunities that will see them be economically empowered.

He said: “We all emphasised the importance of skills particularly for youth and women and I think this is a very important area if the government is to going to make progress in achieving its objectives of creating one million jobs.”

The aim of the project is to support the Government’s effort to expand employment opportunities in Malawi, particularly, for youths.

The community technical colleges are designed as youth development centers to provide vocational education and training.

Minister for Youth and Sports Richard Chimwendo Banda said the Project aims at creating employment opportunities among the youth.

“This is one of projects that we are relying on when it comes to skills development among young people, we keeping telling young people that time for white-collar jobs may not always be there, a chance may not always be there.

“It’s time for young people open up and accept that skills can create jobs and wealth opportunities for them,” he said.