Develop self-sustaining projects for young Kenyans

Vision Africa has set a challenge to all its partner projects – by December 2013 30% of the funds they currently receive through our organisation should be raised through their own income generating activities (IGAs). This will empower the projects and also increase the involvement of local communities in the various projects.

A number of activities have already been set up including animal rearing, bakeries, sale of products made by graduates from our vocational and enterprise training centres, mobile phone charging and bureau services. Each project has been looking to meet the needs of the local community.

Thanks to the support of GlobalGiving donors, some of our projects will be able to expand their current activities or set up new enterprises to raise funds to support their work. In anticipation of the funds arriving, our team has been working hard to do some of the ground work to ensure the IGAs will be successful.

Ruth has been employed to work with our project leaders and support them in developing their IGAs. She is also responsible for collecting monthly reports which will allow us to evaluate each activity. In order to help the project leaders, Ruth has been preparing manuals packed with advice which will help them increase the productivity of their IGAs for example the best conditions for keeping certain animals, the feeds they should be given and the veterinary care required to maximise breeding potential.

We also like to share skills amongst our projects as far as possible. With this in mind, the head teacher of our Nairobi Seed of Hope centre travelled to Mbeere Children’s Home recently. The home has set up a dressmaking project producing school uniforms and tailor made clothing for members of the local community. Part of Florence’s role at Seed of Hope is to mentor her graduates as they set up small businesses after training in dressmaking and the production of marketable crafts. We thought it would be great if Florence could share her knowledge and skills with the team at Mbeere Children’s Home so that they can improve their business and hopefully generate more income to support the sixty children living at the home.

Now that we have received the funds from GlobalGiving, we are now in the process of allocating them to the various projects earmarked for investment. We look forward to bringing you updates from these projects in our next report.

Thank you for choosing to invest in our work and help develop self-sustainability at our partner projects.