Community Based Training Needs Assesment

Early this month, STED launched a project that was aimed at promoting marketable skills to provide sustainable employment among the youth from Nairobi's informal settlements of Huruma, Korogocho and Mathare. Today, hardly a month after the launch, youths were sommoned for an introduction to the project.

Mr. chokera from Cobtrad Consultants addressing the youth during the forum

The forum aimed at varifying the kind of training the youth wanted to enroll for and whether the trainings would benefit them at the end. A big number of youth were recruited to start there trainings at the community level with focus given to the experience they are expected to get for the job market.

John Kimani, a berber from Eastleigh owns a berber shop, and was willing to give training to youths on his skills from his shop.

Mechanics, Welding, Catering, Embroidery, Tailoring, Hair and Beauty, Painting and electronics were among the courses the youth prefered for the trainings with a huge number of boys giving priority to mechanics while the ladies prefered catering.

A student recruited for the training giving remarks about the project while the rest listen carefully.

Some of the benefits the youths are to get from the project include:

• The trainings are to be conducted at the community level where the youth reside from therefore, transport would not be a problem.
• The project targets all youths despite of your educational backround meaning even the class 8 leavers will benefits from this project.
• Youth are expected to gain experience required for the market

Clean up

Students from various departments from The Vocational Training at Eastleigh Community Centre, yesterday from 9.00 am to midday engaged in an activity that was aimed at conserving the environment within the organisation's compound.

Students as they formed the groups before the begining of the clean up exercise.

They started the activity by organising themselves in three groups which were later  on assinged different tasks from different sections to clean.



The activity was huge as it also involved construction of a new pavement towards the entrance of the newly constructed ICT classroom.



The activity involved clearing of the bushy fence whithin the organisation, planting of flowers along the pavements, watering and weeding of the flowering pots and lastly but not least, structuring of the new pavement towards the enrance of the proposed ICT classroom.

The exercise was full of fun as the students and their trainers enjoyed working together in a team.

Mr. Mathenge, a trainer at the Vocational Training Centre and students as they engage in clearing of the bushes around the fence.

     

Students watering and weeding the flowering pots at the Vocational Training Centre. 



Students together with their teacher (in a blue T-shirt) as they planted flowers along the pavement.

CLA Strengthening workshop

SELF HELP GROUP APROACH_Kenya.

Scopion Villas hotel in Malindi, Mombasa, was the host for this year's streathening workshop. A four day workshop held from 2nd-6th May 2011. The workshop attracted various organisations with Eastleigh Community Centre Being one of them.

Participants were encouraged to feel free and open to sharing since the workshop involved learning from one another they gathered in groups of their various organizations to discuss on good things/ strengths of their respective CLAs as well as challenges/weaknesses faced when facilitating the CLAs. Based on this, they also came up with their expectations for the workshop.

Skills for peace initiative project

Skills for Peace Initiative Project was a USAID-Kenya Funded Project aimed at promoting peace building initiatives and employment creation initiatives among the youth to reach out to others youth within the informal settlements of Nairobi namely Mathare, Huruma, Kariobangi and Korogocho.

The Project was intended to directly target  youths and some youths among them as peer educators within four Slum villages of Nairobi, and the youth were to reach out to other final indirect beneficiaries through the community forums.

Youth attending a community peace bulding forum in Huruma.

With the above, the project realized, that some peer educators were empowered their beneficiaries and a large number of indirect beneficiaries were also reached within the slum villages. Members of staff capacities were built on areas of conflict mitigation and peace building and some area youth for peace groups were established in Huruma, Mathare North, 3KD comprising Kayole, Kariobangi, Korogocho and Dandora and 3MK comprising Mathare, Mabatini, Mradi and Kosovo. Finally, community capacities were strengthened through the community forums on peace building, democratic governance, human rights, on going national reforms, leadership, entrepreneurship, community mobilization, organization and facilitation.

This is what unvailed after the end of the project.
The Program supported the SPI beneficiaries into initiating and strengthening four area youth for peace groups. The groups were geared to reinforce the knowledge and skills on peace building, democratic governance, Human rights, on going national reforms, leadership, entrepreneurship, community mobilization, organization and facilitation. The four regions were consolidated as follows:

1. Huruma
2. Mathare North,
3. Kayole, Kariobangi, Korogocho and Dandora.
4. Mathare, Mabatini, Mradi and Kosovo.

The youth to youth project launching

Skills training and entreprise development program under P.C.E.A Eastleigh Community Centre, on the 3rd June 2011, launched the youth to youth project to promote marketable skills for sustainable employment within informal settlements of Nairobi. "Dubbed Ujuzi wako ajira yako" -Kazi mara that that!

Youth preparing for a walk through the slum to sensitize the community about the youth to youth project which was aimed at promoting marketable skills for sustainable employment within informal settlements of Nairobi.

 The event was conducted in Korogocho inside the Korogocho Community Hall and atrracted visitors such as the Korogocho area Chief, Koch FM, Mr. Peter Wainana from cobtrat and finally but not least the Umoja youth group. The event also attracted many women and youths from the korogocho slum who were very eager to hear what the project could offer and how they could benefit in the end.

 

This was the climax of the event as the Korogocho Area Chief, youth, men and women took it to the street to sensitize the community about the project. 

Mr. Peter Wainaina from cobtrad through Eastleigh Community Centre, conducted a reaserch in Korogocho, Huruma and Kariobangi and found out that an overwhelming number of youths from the target area face a daunting array of social-economic problems the major among them being unemployment and underemployment.

Key to this, exclusion and marginalization is the collapse of social support institutions for young people as a result of the combined adverse effect of economic restructuring unemployment and under employment, poverty, and HIV/AIDS.

Therefore, he came up with a conclution that involvement in short term survival strategies will play a big role in alienating the youth in informal settlements in relation to detachment from educational and labour market areas where state and institutionally sanctioned social and political capital may be accumulated and where human capital development may occur to facilitate productive transition into adulthood.
This brings the need for the government and the civil society to harness youth potential and transform it to dynamic force for social economic development. This creation of value however, poses a huge challenge to both the state and the civil society organizations, and we suggest that it could be done in the following ways.

1. Facillitate youths to start bussiness.
2. Promote a saving culture among the youths.
3. Create awareness on funding opportunities.
4. Advocacy around utilization of government devolved funds.
5. Collaboration among development agents.
6. Upscaling of non formal training.
7. Behaviour change programming efforts.
8. Stigma reduction programming.
9. Adolencent sexual behaviour.
10. Engaging the youth in decision making.
11. Strengthen social welfare schemes.
12. Need for gender sensitivity in policy making and programming.
13. Need for civic education.
14. Capacity building for the ministry of education and other providers of education and training.

Entertainment was also part of the event as entertainment groups such as the Kengele traditional dancers and salsa maniac taking on stage.