Accelerating Positive Youth Development in Kisumu

Hello partner, 

We are excited to share with you our progress in accelerating Positive Youth Development in Kisumu by working closely with established and new partners. We have recently partnered with Better Me Kenya to work with more young people in innovation projects, and Business Fights Poverty, to share stories of success from our interventions in working with young people. We also joined the Catalyst 2030 Network to collaborate with other organizations, especially youth-serving organizations within the network, in contributing to the sustainable development goals. 

One of the biggest challenges working with young people is unemployment. Youth make up over 60% of the population, and 41% of them are unemployed, despite having finished free and required elementary education, secondary education, and, in certain cases, tertiary education. 

We have since co-created 5 social enterprises with 6 young people per social enterprise, with an aim to create more sustainable jobs and solve selected sustainable development challenges in Kenyan communities:

• Sote Tule (Ideation Stage) – builds collectives among farmers in accessing value additional services in an affordable and sustainable way and increasing their profit margin.
• KaaKazini (Prototyping Stage) – connects tradesmen to skills training and job placement to guarantee quality, cost-effective and reliable services.
• SafishAfrika (Ideation Stage) – connects waste collectors to households in hard-to-reach and easily forgotten neighborhoods of Kisumu to manage waste at the source and prevent pollution of water sources.
• Bustani Pods (Prototyping Stage) – creates access to informal education and mentoring for young people around social innovation and social entrepreneurship alongside 21st-century skills and sustainable development in spaces connected to the environment.
• BamBamBam (Ideation Stage) – a mobile application that gives young people access to information on personal development and opportunities for engagement in an interactive way. 
• Barizi (Prototype Stage) – An online tourism marketplace showcasing places, events, and attractions in Kisumu for local and international tourists.

We thank you for being part of our journey and would like to invite you to our 9th-anniversary celebration on the 9th of December in Nairobi, Kenya (RSVP). 

JAY4T Team

Links:

• Youth engagement: Experiencing fun science experiments with chil