Last week in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, a ceremony was held to inaugurate the new laboratories and award diplomas to 38 students at the Yombo Vocational Training Center. The event marked a milestone in the SHINE project, funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and implemented by Comunità Solidali Nel Mondo in partnership with CEFA. This center is a cornerstone for promoting the social inclusion of people with disabilities by facilitating their access to vocational training and the job market.
In Tanzania, official statistics indicate that about 9% of the population lives with at least one type of disability. This often limits access to quality education, decent employment, and basic services. The Yombo Center, specialized in vocational training for young people with disabilities, has been enhanced with infrastructural interventions aimed at reducing physical barriers and has benefited from the introduction of modern equipment. Additionally, targeted training efforts, such as curriculum updates and teacher training, have increased the center’s capacity to accommodate more students and provide training tailored to labor market demands.
Through the project’s activities, career placement services have also been strengthened. These include tailored guidance and internship programs for students with different disabilities. Participants at the ceremony visited the new bakery laboratory, whose revenues will be reinvested in the center’s development, and the carpentry workshop, revitalized thanks to SHINE’s interventions.
During the ceremony, Dr. Paolo Razzini, AICS Team Leader in Tanzania, highlighted how SHINE exemplifies the holistic approach of the Italian Cooperation. On one hand, it promotes structural works and interventions to ensure accessible spaces equipped with modern tools. On the other hand, it emphasizes significant efforts in training teachers and healthcare workers to bolster the country’s human capital.
The SHINE initiative is built around three fully complementary pillars. The first focuses on diagnosing and treating epilepsy and combating malnutrition, conditions often interlinked with disability and poverty. The second addresses barriers preventing people with disabilities from accessing the labor market, particularly the quality and accessibility of vocational training systems. The third pillar focuses on developing protocols for diagnosing and treating epilepsy and malnutrition while utilizing cutting-edge models for inclusive vocational training. To date, the initiative has engaged over 800 children and young adults with disabilities across the Mbeya, Morogoro, and Dar es Salaam regions. Supporting the inclusion of people with disabilities is one of the Italian Cooperation’s priority areas of intervention, particularly in Tanzania, where complementary projects funded by AICS are underway in the Iringa Region.
 The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new laboratories built through the SHINE initiative. |
 The diploma awarding ceremony at the Yombo Vocational Training Center. |