Increasing forest cover through play in Nairobi

We have so far conducted 57 sessions out of possible 60 sessions to 300 Children who are taking part in Community Impact Program this because of exams or public holidays that encroach in our sessions. The youth league has now attracted 380 Children from the age of 15 years and below; 280 boys and 100 girls, the number of girls attending Green-Kenya sessions in the youth league has increased because there been a room for girls to participate in the league.

In the month of May, we had 85% attendance by all  the category in our programs, compared with 88% in the month of March. This is because many pupils changed the schools to Government schools especially when they are about to do their Kenya Certificate of  Primary Education (KCPE) which gives them an upper hand when it comes to getting a chance to national schools.

One of the program that has evolved in to two programs (Youth league and Wasichana Juu) that is transforming the lives of youths in Mukuru kwa Ruben is Community Impact program.

Community Impact Program is based on self-directed or participatory model of development through sport. Participatory education is a new dynamic for many children; the Kenyan school system does not currently strongly support learning through doing. By exposing the children to open discussion and requesting their input, we are teaching them that their opinions are important.  By posing questions on unexplored topics to the youth, we are setting the seeds for critical thinking.

The evaluation meeting was geared to get the feedback from the teachers who spend more time with our participant during the lessons. During the evaluation meeting, it was suggested that Green-Kenya committee team be formed and its mandate be, to safe guard the Children from Abuse, create  safe space for Children to participate in purposeful play, economic empowerment and to ensure community involvement in Green-Kenya activities.

We believe that through these kind of engagement will be able to develop psycho social support in the community and help bring all rounded young person who knows that the community cares for them. It will also improve our program delivery by involving the opinion of the larger community that we work in.