By Shadrack Mbaka

Annually, more Kenyan youth continue to migrate to major urban cities such as Nairobi, Nakuru, Kisumu, Mombasa and Eldoret in search of a favourable sustainable life. Top of their agenda upon “landing” in the city is to source for employment opportunities; better housing and accommodation and with hope of advancing their education qualifications to be competitive in the job market.

Unfortunately, for most, the dreams they seek are crushed when the realities of high unemployment rates and lack of proper housing with little access to services.

Globally, there has been a decline in employment opportunities for the youth in Kenya compared to other developing countries. There have been various interventions by the Kenyan government to address the challenge of youth employment through human capital development like the Youth Enterprise Development Fund, which in most occasions is accessed by a few youth groups. So in order to survive, many turn to crime, while young women may turn to prostitution and brewing illicit liquor.

Lack of proper housing on the other hand has led to other social problems. These include premarital sex, a problem that affected especially teenage girls. Most parents are blamed by the young people, for not providing adequate housing and which results to a whole family sharing a 10 by 10 room.

In the dense and highly populated area of Mukuru slums, space is limited. Public spaces are few, forcing most of the social and economic activities to be conducted out in the streets. The streets are often appropriated by community elders. Even though the majority of the residents in Mukuru are between the age of 15-24 years, children and youth are often being marginalized in decision-making processes concerning urban development and have limited opportunities to take part in changing their communities.

Youth form the next generation in cities but despite this youth are often being considered as a problem instead of a resource in planning processes, considered to be criminal elements. However, these actions are often an expression of frustration over being excluded in society.

In efforts to address this challenge, She Needs a Chance, a local Community based organisation affiliated to Muungano wa Wanavijiji, selects youth in Mukuru slums that in most circumstances are identified through community mapping exercises and work with them through empowerment programmes such as Information and Community Technology, Music arts and culture and school based mentorship programes.

In promoting information, communication and technology in Mukuru, the youth organisation has established a computer center within Mukuru and 50 computers have been received from Nairobits a local ICT empowerment organisation in Nairobi that seeks to empower youth from low income communities.

Most youth and vulnerable children are able to access this center for computers training programs relating to entrepreneurs activities and poverty reduction. The concept is based on the premise that micro, small, and medium enterprise development initiatives are likely to have the biggest impact on job creation for the youth in Mukuru Slums.

What is most exciting is how youth have a chance to show their creativity and be innovative. The She Needs a Chance has partnered with yet another community based organization known as Sisters of Great Vision to mobilise young women for entrepreneurship and life skill training. The young girls and women in Mukuru are introduced to the concept “Creative economy” to understand how art and social entrepreneurship contribute in providing alternative income revenue for low income communities. The youth here are introduced to the concept of business planning, personal branding and marketing mix.

Discussion on the lifecycle of the creative process where community artistes and budding film makers have the opportunity to learn best practices and experiences from well-established artistes who are doing well in the creative industry.

Since the program began in 2015, She Needs a Chance organisation has worked with more than 500 youths and school going children to empower them on social and life skills, economic empowerment, talent nurturing and providing sanitary pads for school going girl child. The outcomes have been tremendous.

The program’s impact at an individual level has also been substantial. After their time with the youth empowerment centre, most continue their businesses and continue to nurture their talents to become independent. Additionally, some of the youth have gone on to become mentors for other adolescents and generate incomes and not depend on money gotten through crime. They have also organized slum festivals where different artistes, social-entrepreneurs and organisations make presentations about their work and how it can help improve the communities.

There are complex and challenging issues in most informal settlements in the cities, but this project has shown all that can be achieved by simply providing youth with an opportunity to earn a decent living.

If young people are a gift to both their communities and the world, as proclaimed by Nobel Peace Laureate the late Professor Wangari Maathai, then Africa is a continent rich in gifts.

Grace Nyakio one of the facilitators at Sisters of Great Vision explains, “ We aim to address this opportunity deficit by offering economic empowerment training to young people especially young women in Mukuru, and after they've successfully completed our training, we give our grandaunts access to credit limit of products. They choose what products they want to sell."

Their wares include fast moving products such as soft drinks, house-hold products, and reusable sanitary products for women.

Kelvin Muiruri a founder member of The She needs a Chance CBO says. "But a lot of what they learn is transferable. Whatever they do after working with us, they need to be able to empower themselves and scale up the initiative to reach out to a thousand others."

While the initiative remains a work in progress – it currently operates out of a container set at the Reuben Community Centre – its promise is undeniable.