By Siprosa Rabach | Project Leader
Once again, we are extremely excited to have you support the youth skills training program in Mariakani, Kilifi County in the coastal region of Kenya. Through the GlobalGiving platform, we managed to mobilize additional support to our youth skills training and provided opportunities to over 500 youth last year to acquire employability skills. Your contributions have enabled us increase more opportunities for our youth by equipping them with desirable skills in information, communication and technology at a time when online and digital platforms became the alternative mode of transferring skills across the world due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
We are happy to report that the funds raised through the GlobalGiving Platform enabled us to transform our computer laboratory by increasing the internet bandwidth and acquisition on additional 9 computers currently used for training at MTTI.
At the end of last year, a total of 739 trainees (433 male and 306 female) were successfully supported to acquire skills in diversified trades. We are delighted to report that more female students challenged themselves by taking up courses like welding and plumbing. The male students also took the challenge by enrolling in courses such as beauty therapy and hairdressing, thus changing the cultural beliefs that prohibited youth from accessing job opportunities.
With support from our long term partners and contributions from our GlobalGiving Donors, we managed to scale up our operations by introducing short courses for youth involved in the motorcycle sector by organizing a 3 days training for motorcyclists in Ukunda, Kwale County. The introduction of training for youth in the transport sector was aimed at enhancing the employability of youth riders who operated motor cycle taxis also known as boda boda operators. This training targeted over 250 youth, equipping them with Digital Literacy, Road Safety and Financial Literacy Skills, to enable them manage their businesses. With the Digital Literacy Skills, they are now able to tap into the many online job opportunities available on the various online applications as well as access financial services offered by many service providers like mobile savings.
School lunch is critical to student health and well-being, especially for low-income students. At the Mabati Technical Training Institute, we do our best to provide high nutritional lunch to all the trainees enrolled at our Training Institute. To improve efficiency in our lunch program, we managed to improve our kitchen infrastructure through the donations from the Giving Tuesday campaign that we participated in in November, 2021. The funds raised were used to replace dilapidated kitchen stoves and expand our kitchen. We are happy to report that despite the challenges that many students faced from home such as inability to access 3 meals a day, our lunch program provided youth enrolled for training regular meals and contributed to high retention of youth in the program. More so, there has been less drop-outs compared to the previous year 2020. We have also had 15 students get job placements towards the end of last year in various sectors like industrial garment making companies, cement manufacturing companies, while others have individually owned businesses.
The financial support of USD, 10,000 COVID-Relief funds from GlobalGiving was indeed a blessing. This donation allowed us to provide more training materials to over 200 youth preparing for accreditation. Since the technical training program offered at MTTI is 90% practical and 10% theoretical, the need for learning materials is always draining and strenuous to poor parents, many of whom lost their livelihoods due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The support will not only allow us to purchase more learning materials but also provide protective clothing to needy students currently enrolling in our training institute, to enable learning in a conducive and safe environment.
We sincerely thank all our GlobalGiving donors for believing in us and look forward to continue partnering with you to improve the lives of young men and women in Kilifi County.
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