Skills Building for Unemployed Youths In Western Kenya

Challenge
In rural Kenya, 74% of the teenagers and young adults are unable to move beyond available free primary education. These school dropouts youths typically turn to risky behaviors: early pregnancies for girls, addictions for boys. Towns become ghettoized and rural areas loose their youth. Offering these vulnerable youths a technical education closer to home aims to break the cycle of poverty on site, right where it is needed. Families in a 50km radius around Kisumu will benefit directly.

Solution
The village elders are mobilizing to build a sustainable Polytechnic school with a degree program. It will offer a variety of courses with workshops, a library, a theater, classrooms and boarding facilities. Computer will be introduced in the village through the school. The graduates can start their own businesses or develop a career. This way the entire community will lift itself out of subsistence living.

Long-Term Impact
The education of 200 teens and young adults per year in a landmark school will enable them to provide for their families at large and improve the community.This will also contribute to decreasing strife and conflict; the youth bulge in Kenya combined with the recent 2008 post-electoral violence makes technical training a priority for peaceful living.