Cheery Children Education Centre

The conditions in slums are dire. For Kibera, which is the largest urban slum, the issues of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, HIV, drug abuse, malnutrition, gangs, assault, rape, early pregnancy, prostitution, clean water scarcity, diseases, lack of electricity and medical care are rampant. The children who are born in such conditions are mostly doomed to stay in such conditions unless they have education, which is rare and mostly unaffordable for the families as there are no public schools and private mostly have high fees. 

This is overwhelmingly in slums such as Kibera slum, which is the largest urban slum in Africa. There may be as much as a 1M inhabitants, many of which are children. 100K of them are orphanted and around a third attends no school, 43% of the girls and 29% of the boys. Only one in ten completes middle school. Two thirds are iliterate. The average life span in the slum is 30 years old. Every year about 13000 Kenyan girls leave school permanently due to  pregnancy.

The Cheery Children Education Centre (CCEC) provides education for over 500 children. It gives the children an oppotunity to advance their education, and continue to have productive life with decent career. It provides a refuge from the dire conditions mentioned above. It also provides clean water, and has electricity. For those who cannot afford to pay scholarship, it helps out with the pay, and also the food for children. It uses technology to connect with other schools via Skype in the classroom. It also uses YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn for outreach and educating the public and form partnerships.

The target population is children in a Kibera, Nairobi slum. 500+ five to fifteen-year-olds, with the plan to build a high school. They get the opportunity to become literate, enjoy learning about other children via technology. If they would not be in school, they would be engaged in problematic behaviours and life situations. This way, they have a chance for education, together with nutrition they need, clean water, relationships, sanitary pads, safety. They can escape from the generational cycle of poverty.  

I am Jairus Makambi, a founder of CCEC. I was born in Kenya. I also lived in a Kibera Slum. My wife is a teacher. We are well-versed with technology. We are in daily contact with parents, teachers, and students so that we know what they need. We are also in connection with the classrooms abroad, so we have some knowledge about how the project can influence others.

Financial – building a high school, pitching to investors

Technical – help with technological resources so more classes would get a projector, and computer and wi-fi, licenses for software, web development

Legal – help with scaling the school to other locations

Cultural – connect with other classrooms worldwide

Market – exposure, conferences  

Community - Peers to learn from and educate

Entrepreneurial – Measurement of impact

Novelty:

· education also via technology - we started with three kids via Skype in the classroom. Now we have 500+ kids and hundreds of sessions undertaken. It could be inspiring others who want to start small initiative for educating locals from the underprivileged settings

· partnerships - with other classrooms and teachers who helped us to educate the children, raise funds, and cater for food and clean water tanks

· educating others about the journey - we have undertaken a video project as a part of mozzila festival, that is web monetized - It Takes a Global Village to Raise a Child in a Slum

For the next year - get enough partners to be sustainable - cater for the salaries, nutrition, and technology, leverage all old partnerships (classrooms abroad and organization donors) and get at least two new major donors. 

For the next five years - build a hs, scale to new location, get at least a half of the kids to high school, build a technology lab that would enable more sessions with partner schools and teachers

· getting at least new 500 kids to school in 5 years, building a new school serving high school students in 5 years

· size of the school - increase the space in the school

· number of partners - double the number of partners

· get at least half of graduating students in high school yearly

We want to enable students to break the generational poverty and live a fulfilling lives that benefit them, their communities, and the world. (long term)

We do it via providing them with an access to education, basic living needs, and community. (medium term)

Short term outcome is literacy and graduation rate of students, number of educational partners who benefit the school by teaching and contributing monetarily. 

Outputs - school grades, success in contests, attendance, health of the students, staying out of trouble and unhealthy behavior. Community and partnerhips - number of them, monetary contribution. Number of leassons conducted.

Activities are classes, community talks, connections with partners, providing scholarships, food, water, shelter, safe place, medical needs, sanitary pads, tolilets. The community building done via relationships with peers and teachers.

· connecting the classes via video and projector and one computer

· Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Skype in the Classroom for outreach and educating

· web monetization for receiving funds (fiat or blockchain) happening on Mozilla Festival

· water tanks installed at school, providing a clean water

* sustainable toilets - solving the sanitation issues in community

* sanitary pads to prevent absenteeism of girls

· electrity serving for the light and electricity at school

· small chicken farm for eggs

Diversity:

• age - children can be admitted even if they do not strictly adher the age window for the class
• class - the poverty of family is not an obstacle, they can get a scholarship 
• disabilities - also the kids who are not perfectly healthy can attend school
• educational background - even older kids who have not yet gone to school can attend, even teachers who are not graduated but have ample experience can attend
• ethnicity - anybody is welcomed, regardless of the background
• gender expression - children are invited to be who they are
• gender identity -likewise
• geographical location - the school serves the local kids
• immigration status - if such situation occured, they would be welcomed 
• income - support by scholarships
• marital status - many kids attend the school who are orphanted, and their guardians are not discriminated on regards of their marital status 
• national origin - welcomed regardless
• parental status - welcomed regardless
• political views - politics is not a defining theme
• pregnancy - the activities at school are protective against unwanted pregnancies 
• race - the community welcomes diversity
• religious status - there is a christian education but there is no pressure
• sexual orientation - likewise
• work experiences - teachers are supported to educate themselves

Equity

* there are scholarships for those who could not afford the school. There is active spirit for community and against discrimination or bullying.

Inclusion

* belonging is the keey aspect of the community that is being build in CCEC

· children - are the beneficiaries

· partners – educating, consulting with them, providing a value of increased knowledge, we provide them via mediating mentorship, sponsoring a child

· they are interested in supporting the children as this creates a unique experience in being invested in the lives of children

· donations, grants from partners, scholarships for children (distance adoption)

· selling digital goods made by the community (a book, postcard, consultation - perks)

· alumni income contribution

· Donation from partners that helped build the new school building with water tanks, toilets, chicken farm. Scholarships for students, food, and computer