This project intends to give skills training in tailoring and embroidery, fashion designing and basic life skills for sustainable livelihoods to 300 slum women in Ruaraka. We established dressmaking and tailoring training centre with seven sewing machines and would like to expand the training centre with more sewing machines, tool kits to reach the wider population with our training services.
Looking beyond the deprivation of Nairobi's slums, one of the biggest problems facing communities is a lack of economic opportunities. In many cases people do not have the skills or resources to access employment or generate their own income, despite having the ambition to do so. In other cases there are those with skills who simply cannot find work. The Kenyan national unemployment rate is currently estimated to stand at 40% although it is likely to be significantly higher in urban slum areas.
In one of the ways to address the low job practical skills and unemployment problem in Ruaraka community, The organization established a small dressmaking and tailoring training centre and would like to expand the training centre to tackle the problems of low practical skill levels and lack of income generating opportunities for our target group especially the women who drop out of school due to early pregnancies, widowed, house wives, single mothers and youth.
The project works directly to reduce poverty of vulnerable groups. The centre runs classes for 4 months for the target group to give them relevant tailoring skills to enable them seek employment from the Export Processing zones (EPZs industries) in Ruaraka. Other trained beneficiaries are assessed and linked to secure loans from micro-finance institutions or given grant when available to purchase their own sewing machines for small businesses.
This project has provided additional documentation in a DOCX file (projdoc.docx).
