Skills Training for Youths

We are happy to report that not only is our regular skills training project for 2024 entering its final quarter with all participants doing exceptionally well, but we started a new project in July with teen mothers.

We did a pilot programme just after COVID with a group of teen mothers offering similar skills training and mentoring.  This was very successful in terms of impact for the young mothers but we struggled to find further funding in the post COVID era.  However, this year we managed to find funding and have commenced life skills and apprenticeship training with a group of teen mothers in a small town close to Kitale.  So, watch this space! 

We have just completed the first phase of our year-long youth training project.   The first phase is the introduction of our new intake of students and consists of a three month long life skills training concentrating on all aspects of personal development from hygiene to trauma counselling.  During this time, our trainees also meet their apprenticeship trainers and will then spend the next nine months doing a combination of training in the workplace with carefully selected trainers in their chosen professions, alternating this with bespoke classes in a recognised vocational training college.   

We have come to learn over many years of doing such programmes that the life skills element of the course is vital and cannot be ignored or left out of the curriculum.  A period of learning to interact with their peers and colleagues, preparing to go into the training arena and dealing with any personal worries and issues is crucial to help build the confidence and self-esteem needed to carry the trainees through the remainder of the course.  We believe that this foundation is one of the main reasons our programme has produced such impressive success rates (independently assessed).

It is now the rainy season in Kenya and despite this, we are happy to be moving forward with a group of enthusiastic youth who have seen how this training has altered the lives of their friends who have previously undertaken it.

Thank you for your help in changing lives - 130 enrolled in January - not just the lives of the trainees, but their immediate families who will all benefit.