This project will create jobs, start businesses, and develop opportunities for 70 young men and women ages 18 to 25 living in the Kibera slum - ultimately reducing unemployment among this vulnerable age group and starting them on a path toward self-sufficiency and a better future for themselves and the entire community. We work with each individual program participant to discover their skills and interests and develop a route out of poverty that best utilizes their own inherent strengths.
Kibera is the largest informal settlement or slum in Nairobi, Kenya and home to an estimated 500,000 to 800,000 residents. A majority of Kibera residents are living in poverty and struggle with inadequate housing and poor sanitation facilities. It is estimated that Kenya needs to create 900,000 jobs annually to absorb the high number of youth joining the job market. For youth in Kibera, unemployment often leads to drug abuse, crime, early pregnancy, and a lot of untapped and wasted potential.
Despite and perhaps, in part, because of the immense challenges they face, Kibera residents are creative, resourceful, resilient, and talented. We work closely with the youth in our programs to create opportunities for income generation and job creation that build upon their own talents and abilities. These opportunities include sewing classes, photography classes, an art gallery for youth artists, vocational training in plumbing, electricity, and mechanics, and university education.
Uweza has run programs for young people in Kibera for 11 years. Youth who have completed our programs are now running their own businesses, holding stable jobs, and able to support themselves and their families. We believe that improved living standards for Kibera residents must come from within the community itself and that sustainable change requires a future generation that is educated, motivated, and financially self-sufficient. One youth at a time, we are building that generation.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
