The Republic of Zambia is a landlocked country situated at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, home to a population of just over 17 million inhabitants comprised of 29 main ethnic groups. Its national language is English although 23 other languages are spoken across the country regionally.

Poverty is a real issue within Zambia with an astonishing 54.5% of Zambians living below the recognised national poverty line, meaning the majority of the countrys population are suffering.

BOUT believes that possession of a trade skill is an important weapon to help break the cycle of poverty in Zambia and we aim to do this by providing young people with a sound knowledge, to an acceptable level, in a trade of their choice in order to enable them, through that trade, to be self-employed where opportunities for regular employment are rare.

In 2017 BOUT established a partnership with Welfare Concern International Zambia in setup and run a Skills Acquisition Project (SAP) in Zambia.Headed up by Moses Chibanda, SAP is based out of the City of Livingstone, operating on land that has been so generously donated to the WCI by the local community in the peri-urban area. SAP's course offerings initially revolved around the art of garden cultivation and management, in partnership with Thrive of the Royal Horticultural Society.

In 2018 the Skills Acquisition Project expanded its curriculum to also offer classes for I.T. and tailoring, two vocations that are in demand nationally and also classes that were within BOUTs capability to deliver given the resources available. These classes brought through ringing through their first class of graduates in November. BOUT plans to further expand the SAP curriculum in the coming months with Carpentry, plumbing, shoe repairing and welding identified as the new courses to be delivered with all of the above being identified by the partnership as needed in the country.

One of the biggest obstacles in the undertaking of the project has been the ability to secure the premises necessary to deliver these new programmes. So to combat this we decided to build the necessary premises needed to deliver these new programmes.We aim to open the brand new skills centre in January, 2023 with an initial intake of 20 students in areas such as IT- computer skills, tailoring and horticulture. The recruitment process for the class of 2023 is well underway!

BOUT has raised funds in the UK and has contributed over £3000 towards the project so far, However we still need help in realising our plan for SAP to be Self-Sustaining within the next 3-5 years.