To increase job opportunities and improve the general level of education for service technicians, the Volvo Group is initiating an apprenticeship training program in Zambia.
Article continues below
Volvo is initiating this together with the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). The program will be run in collaboration with local authorities and a total of 140 students will be trained every year.
The need for practical vocational expertise is very high in Zambia. The existing training does not meet the demand from the industry, which has resulted in companies sourcing labor from other countries. In Zambia, this pertains largely to workshop mechanics and service technicians for the key mining industry.
To increase job opportunities, the Volvo Group, together with Sida and UNIDO, has initiated apprenticeship training programs for 140 students starting in January 2015. A total of 420 students will be trained over a period of three and a half years and the objective is that at least 75% of the students will obtain work as service technicians or similar after completing the program.
The training will be conducted at Northern Technical College in the city of Ndola. It has been adapted and planned to meet the needs of the industry and contains both practical and theoretical courses such as mechanics, service and maintenance of vehicles. English will also be included in the program.
Last year, the Volvo Group announced that it would establish apprenticeship training programs in ten African countries. Similar programs were recently started in Morocco and Ethiopia. The programs are prioritized areas in the Volvo Group's long-term sustainability work.
Improved traffic safety, fewer accidents and lower carbon-dioxide emissions are other prioritized areas. The Volvo Group is the only automotive manufacturer in the world included in the WWF's Climate Savers program aimed at reducing carbon-dioxide emissions from both vehicles and production. ■