Child and youth development professionals are concerned with helping children and youth become competent in the life skills that will prepare them for transition to adulthood. Seventy five percent (75%) of the MTY survey respondents indicated that they were taught how to cook, wash their clothes, sweep, water the garden, look after the cattle, milking, the list goes on. Comments under this section were “being taught these skills helped us in a great way but now looking back one wonders whether the teaching was intentional or it was just by the way. Now where I am I think more, intentional and focused training & teaching should be done. Children should be equipped with additional current functional skills including exposure to entrepreneurship”.

Using the 4-H framework or delivery format, MTY Trust plans to focus on developing skills that are healthy and productive for both children and their communities. Positive child development programs that identify skills within the five targeted competency areas that are appropriate to the age of children will be implemented practically by the children themselves because skills are best learned through practice, many experiences that teach or reinforce skills will be provided. The skills are grouped under the following competencies: