Our youth program made a major shift on its activities in 2022. The program went through some restructuring and formed two formations (groups) based on age and interest of members. One formation was categorized as “Junior youth program” and the second formation was categorized as “Senior youth program”.
The focus of the Junior youth program is on young youth members, mostly teenagers who are currently in secondary schools. The Junior youth program had two successful holiday camps this year during August and December school holiday. 32 members took part in the holiday camps and participated in different mentorship sessions. The mentorship sessions were facilitated by different resource people including some members from the senior youth program. Some of the topics covered during the holiday camps were peer pressure, drugs and substance abuse, sexual reproductive health education, career guidance among others.
On the other hand, the senior youth program targets youth who have finished secondary schools and are currently in tertiary education or at job entry level. The main focus of the senior youth program is to identify economic or training opportunities where members can connect with existing job opportunities or acquire skills that can help them create meaningful self-employment.
Through partnership with Toyota Academy, four members of our senior youth program attended a one-week training on entrepreneurship in July 2022. Motivated by the knowledge acquired in this training, 3 members decided to start a business in stationeries distribution. However, they realized that they did not have enough capital to start their business and therefore decided to join Maji Mazuri microfinance program and start saving for their business idea and have the opportunity to get a loan to invest in their business. The team is now ready to start their business in January 2023 when schools open for the new year calendar. They have visited several schools within the community including Maji Mazuri Headstart school and agreed with the schools to supply them with stationeries.
The senior youth program again received a big opportunity in November with the donation of “Bicibloquera” a brick maker machine from the Governor of Caldas, Colombia in partnership with UNHABITAT. The “Bicibloquera” is an innovation tool being used in the state of Caldas, Colombia to support low cost housing for vulnerable families as well as fostering income generation especially among young people. During the handing over ceremony of the “Bicibloquera” machine to Maji Mazuri, Mr. Luiz Carlos the Governor of Caldas promised to continue supporting our youth program to make optimum use of the machine. On behalf of UNHABITAT, Mr. Dung the coordinator of youth affairs at UNHABITAT promised that UNHABITAT will partner with Maji Mazuri youth under the Nairobi river regeneration program for Maji Mazuri to produce bricks that will be needed to construct bathrooms and other facilities along the Nairobi river. This is a big opportunity for the youth and will create self-employment for youth who will work in production of the bricks. We are grateful to the Governor of Caldas and UNHABITAT for this opportunity. Below is a photo of the brick maker machine donated by Mr. Luis in partnership with UNHABITAT to Maji Mazuri.