Shoes of hope

Today an estimated 20 million children in sub Saharan Africa are still walking without shoes to school. A simple walk to school is grueling without the protection of shoes.

Lack of school shoes result to many school dropouts and missing classes due to the threat of being barefoot the exposure to sharp objects and harmful bacteria or infections in the soil
Rural Development Solutions organization is training local youths on the shoes manufacturing process and providing them with relevant materials to make shoes.

One trained youth can make make more than 20 shoes a day which earns him more than $10 per day.

The shoes are distributed to vulnarable children at subsidized costs.

Therefore we are solving problem of youth unemployment and providing quality shoes to children. Our target is 1000,000 quality leather shoes in 5 years after training more unemployed  youths on the skills.
  

There are estimated 300 million barefoot children world wide, Almost 29 million of this do not go to school due to lack of pair of shoes, out of this more than 20 million are in subsahara Africa.

In my local primary school for example only 2 out of ten had quality school shoes. Many rural communities cannot afford a meal a day, and quality health care for the children, therefore a pair of shoes is considered a luxury while it is a basic need for the school going children.

The poorest inhabitants by income in Kenya live in rural areas, where poverty rates are higher (40%, compared to 28-29% in peri- or core-urban areas) and per capita expenditures are lower. Our model of operation aim at increasing employment among Rural youths thus reducing poverty rate and also increasing the number of children going to school through access to shoes of hope.

Our solution is very simple, we train rural youths on how to make quality leather shoes, provide them with all relevant materials and pay them on piece work for every shoes produced.

It takes one year to have a competent youth in shoes manufacturing process. The training is done on apprenticeship model and it is currently 100% manual as the organization is on growth stage and cannot afford expensive shoes lasting Machine.

The cost of production is maintained at low cost and shoes of hope retail at 60% lower than ordinally shoes in the market. The low cost is also contributed by direct distribution of shoes direct to primary school 

The model relies heavily on skilled youths .Organization target having more than 500 trained youths in the next 5 years who will be manufacturing 250 pairs of shoes per day. This is also a source of income for the youths

While we may not be able to help every child without shoes, our shoes of hope are changing lives of one child at a time. 

Our study has shown reduced school drop out for children with comfortable shoes of hope in local primary schools we are currently serving.

Our target population is marginalized rural communities in Nakuru County. The organization uses Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) is an approach to sustainable community-driven development.

Beyond the mobilization of a particular community, we are concerned with how to link micro-assets to the macro-environment. the model  ensure that communities can drive the development process themselves by identifying and mobilizing existing, but often unrecognized assets. Thereby responding to challenges and creating local social improvement and economic development.

The organization is currently working with 25 community groups that are a good sources of primary data for the rural problems.

It is interesting to sit with group leaders under an oak tree in the village and hear them addresses their issues and propose for the solution.

While most rural communities waste their skin and hides we are using the same to take to leather industry in local tanneries in exchange of quality leather.

With many unemployed youths in rural areas, we are tapping the potential in the area by providing them with relevant skills of shoe manufacturing process.

We developed our shoes of hope through design thinking process and we were able with the end uses.

Our solution therefore is solving a myriad of challenges in the rural communities. We are producing low cost shoes to the rural children, creating employment to the rural youths and providing market for skin that is mostly wasted.

Currently we have trained 10 youths and we have three centers of production and training. We have  produced more than 20,000 pairs of shoes and the organization continue growing  every day 

For students to learn, they need to feel safe.  It is essential that all students have the opportunity to attend schools that provide a safe environment where they can thrive and fully engage in their studies without the distraction and worry about physical safety concerns.

Most organization have not given priority to shoes as part of physical safety for the children while the problem has continued to increase school dropouts and missing of classes due to risks associated with going to school without shoes

Children need comfortable schools shoes to walk many miles to school in rural areas.

The business has been in operation for the last 18 months. We are currently working with ten competent youths and training 5 youths on the skill. We have produced more than 20,000 pairs of shoes and we are in the process of increasing more centers of production and training in the rural areas.

Our business model is still new, and we are still creating more partnership with local primary schools. Currently we are working with 25 community groups that are very important sources of primary data as we access social impact of the model.

Our population size is currently 600 members of the group and they have tested the model in terms of their children using our products and recruitment of youths to be trained. 

Our strategic plan was to text the model for two years before we move the growth stage based on the end users  feedback.

There is a Rural problem of children going to school without shoes. The solution is not from the urban centers but in the rural areas 

Skins is found in the rural areas and very useful in production of quality leather shoes

There are many unemployed youths in the rural areas who can be trained on the shoe manufacturing process.

Rural development solutions is using available resources in the rural villages to solve a persistent problem of quality school shoes for rural children and create employment.

Other shoe manufacturing companies are located in urban centers which increases rural urban migration and their products are out of reach to majority of rural parents.

We expect to create a generation that make their own shoes creating cottage industries in rural areas as we ensure more children enroll and complete their studies 

we have piloted the program with 25 community groups and we have so far trained more than 10 youths on the skill

The groups are our focal point in the rural areas and provide relevant primary data 

Our team is made up of 10 skilled youth 5 apprentice and 2 logistics staff

We started the organization with 2 competent youths in the shoes manufacturing process. For the last 18 months we have managed to train 8 more who are now part of the team.

All the 8 come from rural communities that we serve and were selected by the community groups that we are partnering with.

Rural communities have been marginalized for many years in Africa in term of infrastructure development limiting access to employment to most rural youths

Poverty levels are also high in rural African set up. Most children in rural areas are disadvantaged in term of learning opportunities. 

Our organization is working with these vulnarable communities and we have included we give priority to people living with disabilities in accessing skill development.

We need funding of USD 5000.

As a young organization, we need funding to accelerate growth, We also need training on how to sustain our projects and to scale them out of Nakuru county

Production of 1000,0000 shoes to African children and distributing to school at reduced  cost

Production of 1000,0000 shoes to African children and distributing to school at reduced  cost

Production of 1000,0000 shoes to African children and distributing to school at reduced  cost

Production of 1000,0000 shoes to African children and distributing to school at reduced  cost

Production of 1000,0000 shoes to African children and distributing to school at reduced  cost

Production of 1000,0000 shoes to African children and distributing to school at reduced  cost

Production of 1000,0000 shoes to African children and distributing to school at reduced  cost