Vital community education for a 'lost generation'

Thank you so much for supporting our project to deliver business training workshops that will provide people with skills and knowledge to manage income generation activities successfully.  We are delighted to provide you with an update about what has been happening with this project over the past few months.

There have been 17 workshops held this year with a total of 244 participants and 94 of them were youths.  Each workshop ran over 3 days and the course includes – an introduction to Brighter Communities Worldwide; introduction to business concepts and principles; how to identify income generation ideas; a method to developing a business plan; opportunity for groups to share knowledge and experience and develop income generation projects together.

Unfortunately, right now in Kericho county business and income is struggling under a 30 day lockdown as COVID-19 cases are rising and 90% of positive cases have the Delta variant.  Working from home isn’t an option for people who make a living, for example, selling fruit and vegetables they grow as all markets are closed. It's a very dangerous situation and we have launched an emergency appeal. 

We are supporting the communities and the health services with soap, sanitister, gloves and masks and preparing to support the roll out of the vaccination programme once more vaccines arrive in Kenya.  Meanwhile, people are doing the best they can to feed their families but without any financial supports it is a very challenging time.  When there is no work, there is no income.

Some examples of the projects planned by the groups who did the business trainings with us over the last months are – Nauro Women’s group are expanding poultry farming with their money saved in a ‘merry go round’ system; Christ Mission Self Help farming group are going into tomato farming; Chamlogoi women’s group have constructed 2 poultry houses to start their poultry farming project; Tempwet self help group have been saving through table banking and are planning to start a bee keeping projec; Tulwap Lagoi people with disabilities group are interested in rearing chicks for poultry farming; Kapkirer self help group are buying chairs to rent out for community events..

All the groups who took part in the workshops have received the resources they need to start their project.  We hope that the lockdown will not have to extend beyond the 30 days and that all the participants will have success in the long run with their projects.  We will have a 1 day follow up workshop with them in 6 months time to see how they are getting on and what further supports they may need.

We will be participating in the GlobalGiving July Bonus Day Match Fund on Wednesday July 14^th.  Donations over €80 will be matched from 2pm (Irish time) on that day and the higher the amount donated, the higher the match while funds last. 

Thank you for your support.