ICT Resource Center

In Rhonda informal settlement scheme, unemployed, lack of quality education among the youth is on the rise. Many youth are benefiting from free secondary school education but they lack funds for universities and colleges. Our education curriculum does not provide soft skills like digital literacy, entrepreneurship that are essential for employment and self-employment. This has left many youth in slums hopeless with no skills nor jobs thus widening the gap between the rich and the poor. Additionally these contributes to unethical behaviors in the community like drug abuse, robbery, unwanted pregnancies etc.

This project seeks to bridge the digital divide gap by establishing an ICT resource center that will offer digital literacy and design driven entrepreneurship training and mentorship with the goal to drive self-employment among youth. The project will transform the community and minimize unethical cases. This solution can be applied globally therefore reducing unemployment rate of 13.1%. 

Rhonda slums, covers a population of 27, 787 and seats of square land of 1.1km 2, is one of the largest informal settlement scheme in Kenya. The statistics shows that rate of youth unemployment in Kenya stands at 35% a higher figure compared with the global rate of 13.1%. Most of unemployed come from slums. In Rhonda slum which  located in Nakuru County Kenya, over 90% of youth do not go to the higher learning institution due to lack of school fees, poor performance in secondary school, early marriages etc. The government only provides free education up to secondary level. However, other challenges associated with slums greatly affects the conducive learning of students, which affects their performance thus minimizing their dreams of joining tertiary institutions. This implies that youth lack technical, entrepreneurship and soft skills, which can help them, employ either themselves or secure employment. They lack mentors to hold their hands and give them a direction. Consequently, they lose hope in life and forced to use illegal means to earn a living. These includes:- unwanted pregnancies in an attempt to look for money to survive, drug abuse, crimes, which compromises the social peace of the community.

This project proposes establishment of an ICT Resource Center at in one of the community school known as PISTIS Education center, which caters for the marginalized children in the community. The Key objective of this resource center will be to train digital literacy and design driven entrepreneurship to the youth and women with the goal of empowering by equipping them with relevant digital skills and entrepreneur skills.  . The goal of digital skills is to help them know how to use, operate a computer; they will also learn installation and computer networks. Basic programming languages and Digital marketing will also be provided. In entrepreneurship, they will cover design driven entrepreneurship for innovation, branding etc. Each youth will be linked to mentors who will help them discover their opportunities and convert them into innovation, which will be monitored in an incubation. Additionally, the program will expose them other innovations and competitive industries for bench marking and widening their experience.  For the success of the project, equipping the resource center with ICT infrastructure, trainers, mentors and volunteers will be key. Infrastructure like computers, software, internet, training content, human resource, stationary will be relevant.

This project will target will serve the youth who have have never been to any college or university. It will target the youth from the informal settlement scheme, orphans and the marginalized group. This population will be chosen because most of them have financial constraints towards proceeding to colleges and universities due to high poverty index in the slums. Currently most of them lack skills to start and run business, they lack digital skills which is essential in supporting business and digital innovations. For the last 2 years, we have trained more than 600 at the Kenya National library Service Nakuru and at PISTIS Education center on introduction to computers, entrepreneurship, and Leadership skills. Besides that, I and other partners have often held some forums with youth from Rhonda slums where we talk about both governance, leadership, education, reproductive health, campaigns against drug abuse etc. Therefore, this project will equip them with skills to self employment through entrepreneurship, also place them and competitive advantage of job employment from industries. In doing this, we believe that their life will be transformed and the community will economically develop.

Skills remain the most important factor for better jobs, employment and even success of any business. Without skills, businesses will fail; jobs will not be there and life will become hard. This is a fact in Rhonda informal settlement scheme. Youth lack skills to give them jobs and make the run businesses currently, majority cannot afford basic needs due to lack of income. This project will equip the youth with digital and entrepreneurial skills hence creating employment. This will create a source of income hence reducing poverty, crime and other vices.