Our plan
The Hawkers Market Girls Centre was set up several years ago as a response to young girls scavenging in the garbage heaps at the Hawkers Market in Nairobi for food to feel thier families. Many of these girls were orphans or internally displaced people (after the 2007/8 election violence). The HMGC provides the girls with basic education in Math, English and Computers.
What we did
The first problem they faced was that the girls still needed to earn while learning (in order to feed their families). To that end I helped them apply for the World Bank Development Marketplace Award. The award money was put towards "Learn & Earn Centres" where the girls could make money to feed their families, while learning ther skills. The girls now learn skills that can earn them a living (sewing, making jewellery, hairdressing, making solar cookers, aprons, table-cloths etc.). A second problem is that after the programme, many of the girls end up back on the streets. The best way to avoid this is to deepen / lengthen the intervention to make sure the girls are self-sustaining and indpenedent in the long term, after the initial programme. We figured the best way to do this would be to help the girls get more formal training, either university courses or vocational courses, or to help them set up micro-enterprises. The main constraint here is funding. So I have gotten invloved to help them raise funds to sustain the running costs (teachers salaries and learning materials) as well as cover tuition fees for courses. To this end, I have helped them write an award-winning proposal to the the BBC World Challenge in which we were one of 12 finalists out of over 1,000 applicants worldwide (we didn't win any money, but the publicity was good, which will hopefully translate in funding). We are now working on a proposal with the Rotary Club of Calgary to help raise fees for the best girls to access some form of formal education. The next major hurdle is to link the Skill Centre products to markets to make them profitable, and find seed money for start-up enterprises that the girls create. Our hope is to end up being donor-independent some day, and able to replicate the program in other slums.
Our results
The project affects girls who live in the slums in Kenya who are either orphans or internally displaced people, who have no access to education and who often are relied upon to feed their families. These girls are often susceptible to abuse and have in the past spent their days scavenging for food at the markets. The girls now learn English, Maths, Computers, life skills, and Health, as well as skills that enable them to earn while learning (Learn & Earn Skill Centres). The Centre now has enough funds to pay teachers salaries and for learning materials for one year. The Skill Centre just today sold its first solar cooker!! Five girls were recently funded to attend primary school in Gilgil. Many of the girls have found jobs that sustain themselves and their families (mostly in hairdressing & beauty). One of the girls has even managed to relocate her family out of the slums! All the girls who pass through the programme also spend time mentoring new students.
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