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: the intervention was designed to reorient training offered in the then youth training centres moving away from off-the-shelf routine training programmes into entrepreneurship-driven training programmes that speak to existing business opportunities in a particular province. the expected direct result was the production of entrepreneurs in all sectors of the economy including the creative sector who would then exploit existing business opportunities. employment creation would be enhanced through the churning out of business minded creative practitioners. the thrust is to produce through vocational training employment creators as opposed to job seekers. besides, the initiative is designed to economically and socially empower the youths and women who happen to constitute the largest percentage of the zimbabwean population. skills acquisition and the requisite funding are effective poverty alleviation strategies that the programme seeks to address as a precursor to total poverty eradication. as a national programme, the training for enterprise initiative seeks to equip both rural and urban youths and women with the necessary skills to create sustainable sources of livelihoods particularly in the creative sector that hitherto had been relegated to the periphery of the main economic activities. with the creative sector occupying the centre-stage of the training programme, the training for enterprise programme has as one of its intended outputs the mainstreaming of arts education and training and its attendant cultural expressions into the main economic activities otherwise read as formalization of the arts and cultural sector as an important facet of the state party’s economic activities. vocational training therefore becomes a vehicle through which marginalised sections of the population are empowered through facilitation for the establishment of micro to medium scale enterprises in all sectors of the economy including the creative sector. the pillars for the training programme are the national youth policy, vocational training policy and to some extent the gend

: besides private funding and donors who provide funding for the programme, the state party through treasury always allocates funding for vocational training. the allocation is a statutory requirement. the training for enterprise programme also attracts donor funding. during its early implementation stages, substantial support both in financial and material forms was provided by the united kingdom’s department for international development (dfid). with the establishment of boards of trustees at the provincial vocational training centres, retention of funds was introduced while strategic business units were also established that generated funds for the centres. as an example of entrepreneurship, strategic business units are also used as demonstrations during training sessions. with dwindling support from treasury, the vocational training centres are becoming more and more centres of excellence in terms of generating income. at some provincial training centres notably magamba in manicaland and kaguvi in midlands, the strategic business units are in the form of creative expressing such as fashion and design, functional art products peculiar to the surrounding communities and innovative metal work products. all these initiatives are designed as extra revenue streams for the centres and their programmes. agricultural activities, particularly horticulture are proving to be viable revenue sources as most vocational training centres are situated on agricultural land. in essence, the centres are becoming more and more self-sustaining in terms of funding.

The main conclusions laid bare the importance of offering demand-driven and business related vocational courses particularly in the creative sector. in addition, it was noted that the arts and culture sector is awash with business opportunities that the youths (men and women) can undertake in order to eke out sustainable livelihoods. the production of functional art products while it is a component of cultural expressions is a viable business opportunity that attracts customers nationally, regionally and internationally. one of the conclusions was that the state party through ineffective funding and support was leaving the arts and culture sector out of its mainstream economic activities at the expense of the youth who happen to the major practitioners in this sector. in addition, many cultural expressions were not being recognized, especially those emanating from marginalized communities. in point form the conclusions were as follows: vocational training programmes must be in sync with existing business opportunities in any particular area, particularly courses in the creative sector;the arts and culture sector constitute a vital economic activity whose effective exploitation leads to the enjoyment of sustainable livelihoods by the practitioners;functional art products are a vital component of cultural expressions especially those produced by marginalised communities;the creative sector, particularly where it involves issues to do with arts and culture is a vital component of a nation’s identity in the community of nations;enhancement of cultural expressions, particularly its diversity in training can be attained through exchange programmes at national, regional and international levels;entrepreneurship in the arts and culture sector as a vital aspect of the skills acquisition trajectory is a critical component of the economic development process for any nation.