Most learners fall into four groups: unemployed youth, women looking for an independent income, internally displaced people living in and around Mogadishu, and returnees coming back from Kenya, Djibouti, Yemen and other countries. Host community members also join, particularly where NITTR runs short courses alongside partner organisations in Lower Shabelle and other districts. A good number of trainees arrive with little or no formal schooling, which has shaped how courses are built: practical skills come first, and literacy or numeracy support is worked in where a trainee needs it rather than assumed as a prerequisite.