According to NGO projects skills levels in Niassa are generally low. Lichinga, for example, has only one school which educates students up to pre-university level. Cuamba has the Agricultural Faculty of the Catholic University which provides training in rural development and agri-business, including business training. Graduates from this department will be equipped to manage or provide consultancy services to small businesses. Students are available for work placement schemes in their final year which could provide a valuable resource for project development. However, only five students graduated last year and there are currently only 11 students in the final year.
From our own experience of recruiting staff in Lichinga, we found that the majority of applicants had little or no computer skills and those who had worked with computers before only had knowledge of very basic programmes. Moreover, we could not find anyone capable of filling a more senior managerial position. Any business that establishes itself in Niassa will need both administrative staff who have secretarial and IT skills and also managers capable of running the business at the least on a day-to-day level. At the moment these people would have to be brought in from outside the province, which would not result in the desired up-lift of Niassa. We therefore recommend that a centre be established to provide training and on-going support in secretarial, IT and managerial skills.