Adolescents & Youth
Approximately 70% of the population in Kenya is below 24 years of age and 28% are youth aged 15-24 years.
Youth and adolescents in Kenya go through myriad of challenges and one of them is the rising health concerns especially on HIV and teenage pregnancies. 29% of new HIV infections in Kenya are among the youth.
We will support the government and partner agencies through the following approaches to combat this problem.
Enterprise Based Technical and Vocational Education Training (EBTVET)
Adolescents and youth are supported to gain practical, vocational skills through an apprenticeship approach known as enterprise based vocational education training (EBTVET). Youth are based at a host trainer enterprise for 4-6 months where they gain vocational skills that are relevant to the local labour market. The approach allows the most disadvantaged youth who do not have primary school certification to gain practical skills and access employment. They use their skills to gain paid employment and generate an income to access nutritious food, health and education. Evidence from our Mandera EBTVET project indicates that youth trained increased their monthly income tenfold!
Life Skills for Success
Through this approach, we help and empower the poorest and most deprived adolescents, from 15-24 years, to develop five core sets of transferable life skills to positively make the transition into adulthood and secure work.
The five core sets of skills include:
- Higher order thinking;
- Communication;
- Self-control;
- Positive self-concept; and
- Social skills.
We provide a supportive and safe learning environment where youth can feel safe, motivated and respected. Adolescents and young people from poorer households are often deprived of the employment opportunities. We help them build skills, networks and confidence to find the opportunities they need to build safe and sustainable livelihoods.
