| Social Programs | |
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Children and youth programmes It involves working more with children and youths on the streets through transformation of the existing grouping of street children known as ''Gangs,'' into self regulating associations for street and working children for positive change. The goal of the programme is to improve the quality of livelihood for street working children and youth at risk, while the broad objective has been,''To facilitate peer to peer rehabilitation and integration of street, working and other vulnerable children and youth into society, capacity building, lobbying and advocacy on street children issues, through self Regulating Associations for street working children and youth.''
Major Levels for the Program. Level One - Formation of Associations (Transforming existing Gangs). USK identifies already existing groups of street children through their chuoms (residences on the streets) and their leaders. Using a participatory approach, the children and youth gangs are formed into self-sustainable and productive associations. The associations are encouraged to meet regularly, and develop their constitution and code of conduct that guides them.During these meetings, they discuss issues affecting them and identify possible ways of addressing them.
Level Two- Capacity Building of Associations. It involves: (a) Capacity Building workshops which are organized for youths and children, initially targeting leaders who are heading the current social structures.The workshops focus on: Leadership and Group Dynamics, Participatory Action Research, Peer to Peer Education, Life Skills, HIV/AID's, Sexuality, Drug and Substance Abuse and Children Rights. The leaders gradually utilize the skills acquired in influencing change among street children. The associations then become avenues for advocating and promoting peer to peer rehabilitation, behaviour change among street children and youth, and overcoming streetism. Through the associations, the capacity of street children and youth to deal with issues of drug and substance abuse, criminal tendencies/behaviour is enhanced and they are empowered to improve their self image for the attainment of dignity.
(b) Training of Trainers (T.O.T) is an important aspect of the capacity building initiatives where the youth are equipped with skills to carry out trainings for other association members. (c) Through the associations, children and youth who have transformed are linked to education and skills training. (d) Provision of Care and Protection through the Kitengela Temporary place of Safety; children requiring rescue and protection are identified through the Associations and referred through the Undugu Children Centre. In the centre, they undergo rehabilitation and are eventually re-united/re-integrated back to their families. Back with their families, they are also placed back to school and continue being followed up under the Family Centred Rehabilitation Strategy.
Level Three- Empowering Street Children for Self reliance. During this level, trainings on business and entrepreneurship are organized for the associations. This is followed by support for small business start ups as well as income generation activities, either as individuals or associations.
Level Four- Disengagement Level. When an association has reached this level,the interaction with USK is reduced and the association is able to create its own linkages for growth and empowerment. Education and Training ProgrammeAll over the world, education is acknowledged as a means for transforming and empowering the youth with skills, knowledge and values to enable them become productive members of the society. Undugu Society of Kenya, a pioneer of street children and youth rehabilitation work in Africa, has been involved in promoting the rights of marginalized, vulnerable children and young people. The marginalized groups consists of street children and youth at risk, out of school children from poor informal settlements, as well as children withdrawn from child labour conditions, including its worst forms. The right to education and skills training has continued to be one of Undugu's major interventions aimed at transforming their lives with a potential of attaining levels of self reliance and realizing their development rights. Thousands of children and young people have, not only gone through rehabilitation, but have also been provided with an opportunity to acquire formal education, as well as non-formal education and vocational skills training through the programmes of Undugu Society.
The purpose of Skills development is to provide individuals with a range of core skills so that they are equipped for productive activities and employment opportunities such as, wage employment, self employment and income generation activities. The role of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in furnishing skills required to improve productivity, raise income levels and improve access to employment opportunities has been widely recognized. Objectives of Informal Skills Training Programme. (a) To recruit 10,860 trainees through CBO's and equip them with basic technical and business management skills by the yea 2010. (b) To build the capacity of 20 CBO's on concepts of skills training and Business Management by the year 2010. (c) To lobby for increased access to basic education for children and young people from poor backgrounds. (d) To build the capacity of Children and Young People in the Non Formal Education (NFE) schools/ centres and skills training, CBO's and school management leadership structures, to address HIV/AID's issues affecting them. The programme provides opportunities to an average of 400 vulnerable children and youth to acquire productive and employable skills necessary for improving their livelihoods every year.The ISTP employs a strategy of skills acquisition through the apprenticeship approach using artisans mainly from the informal sector and has the following components: 1 Prior to the training attachment, would be trainees are taken through a 3 days pre- training workshop (trade/career choosing workshop) that enables the young people to clearly understand the merits and demerits of different trades available in the informal sector, as well as the requirements for each. After this, each trainee is allowed to make a choice on the type of trade each would want to train on. 2 Once a trainee makes a choice on the trade, they are attached to practising artisans in the informal sector for wage employment. USK has also been empowering Community Based Organizations (CBO's) to implement the skills training programme. Since inception, the ISTP has provided opportunities to over 7,000 children and youth to acquire vocational skills. The average number of young people reached by the programme has increased from about 150 per year to an average of 400 per year. With globalization and frequent changes in technological advancement, a lot of change is taking place in both the formal and informal economy. New training areas have also come on board in the skills training programme such as those related to auto and electronic repairs, as the demand for vocational skills training is growing higher as thousands of young people are released by the educational institutions, particularly at primary and secondary levels. UNDUGU COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMME (UCEP)
Urban Poverty Reduction programs The focus is on socio-economic empowerment interventions in marginalized communities with an objective of reducing the influx of children on the streets due to hunger and deprivation. The program is integrated and comprises of: micro-enterprise development through the self help group approach, (capacity building and development through training and exposure, Skills training and Capacity building and development of CBOs, FBOs and other people’s institutions on leadership and community organization. Interventions are being implemented in Nairobi, Machakos and Kisumu. The overall goal of Undugu Community Empowerment Unit (UCEU) is to enhance the social economic capacity of the communities to be able take charge of their development processes and manage projects sustainably. The key outputs for the unit with the respective indicators are:
Undugu Community Empowerment Program – Strategic issues and background This is an integrated community program implemented in areas with high poverty levels mainly in the informal settlements. The program has two main components as follows:
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