As sustainable businesses are established in the village it will produce a more positive reason to stay in the villages rather than take “the backway” to Europe to seek income for their families. At the moment the loss of the youth to the backway (many loosing their lives and others being placed in detention centres) has created an imbalanced society in many villages. Having more youth stay than leave will re-establish the balance and help raise the level of income within the village – thus reducing the reliance on subsistence farming and remittances.
The project will be working to sustainable development principles and many of the businesses identified already by Arkleton Trust through its seminar wish to revolve around waste management and general improvement of wellbeing in rural areas.
From the outset the programme will be training trainers and facilitators locally so that after a further period of five years (beyond the pilot) no external programme delivery will be necessary. All training participants will also be invited to form business hubs to ensure peer support on an on-going basis within their own cohorts and to new cohorts joining the programme. A system of mentors for the training participants will also be established. After the first pilot a project officer (who may also be one of the trainee trainers) will be employed to ensure on-going assistance is given on business principles during the early stages of their business development.