Nyaeri Self-Help Group
20Th May 2009
Proposal for
The Rehabilitation of a Learning Centre for Orphaned, Abandoned and less privileged Children in Shanzu Village-Mombasa
I. Summary 3
II. Introduction 4
III. Needs/Problems 5
IV. Goals/Objectives 7
V. Procedures/Scope of Work 8
VI. Timetable 9
VII. Budget 9
VIII. Key Personnel 10
IX. Evaluation 10
X. Next Steps 10
XI. Appendix 11
I. Summary
Nyaeri Self Help Group is an organization that was formed in 1998 when members of Shanzu village in Mombasa-Kenya came together with the sole aim of tackling the socio-economic problems affecting them. Among these factors are the high poverty levels, HIV/AIDS, lack of skills, illiteracy and unemployment.
The organistion’s mission statement is ‘Dedicated to empowering the community both economically and knowledge wise to create a self reliant society free of poverty’.
Shanzu Educational Centre forms part of the projects undertaken by the Self Help Group to date. The Centre was established with the goal of providing formal and non-formal education to the community members as a means of preparing them to venture into venturing into sustainable self reliant ventures. The skills imparted at the centre under the non-formal section include tailoring and carpentry with the view of introducing fabrication soon. Other activities like sports are considered means of nurturing talents within the community and bringing up a responsible society. In this line the Self Help Group is seeking material and financial support to meet its objectives from the government, individuals, companies, religious organizations, the business fraternity, friends, donors both external and internal and other organizations.
Priority objective for the Self Help Group is to rehabilitate and upgrade the Centre, establish a feeding programme, construction of a dispensary, sinking of boreholes, Sensitization of the of community about HIV/AIDS and drug abuse, imparting of entrepreneurial skills, initiating of viable income generating projects to the community and providing of loans to sustain them.
The project is divided and will be implemented in three phases as below:
Description of Work / Anticipated CostsPhase One / Rehabilitation/Construction work / $ 37,500.00
Phase Two / Continuation of Basic education offering & upgrade of and maintaining of Feeding Programme / $ 27,250.00 per Annum
Phase Three / Self reliance skills transfer &youth and community perception change sensitization / $ 31,375.00 per Annum
Total / $ 96,125.00
The project is to be steered by the Education and Social Committee, which comprises of the Project Director, Project Manager, Project Financial Controller and Project Coordinator. The Education and Social Committee is answerable to the Group and shall present a documented report (on project progress and financial) after every two months for evaluation.
II. Introduction
Shanzu Educational Centre is a project of Nyaeri Self Help Group a community based organization with its operational base in Shanzu Village, Mombasa, Kenya. The Centre was established in 2003 with the goal of providing educational support to children abandoned, orphaned by the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the less privileged.
Nyaeri Self Help Group was formed in 1998 when Members of the Shanzu Community came together with the sole aim of tackling the socio economic problems affecting them. Top of the agenda and among many other issues is the:
§ Eradication/decreasing of poverty levels within the Shanzu community through viable and sustainable projects
§ Eliminating of HIV/AIDS and the effects it has to the community
§ Create an economically empowered community through teaching them entrepreneurial skills and training on sustainable projects which lead to self reliance
§ Create access to basic social amenities such as clean water, good medical facilities and a reasonable nutrition.
Nayeri self Help Group is registered with the Ministry of Culture and Social Services.
The Group’s mission statement
‘Dedicated to empowering communities both economically and knowledge wise to create a self reliant society free of poverty’
Shanzu Educational Centre offers both formal education and informal education. The formal education consists of basic primary school education following the 8-4-4 curriculum while the informal education entails training in dressmaking/tailoring and entrepreneurial skills, and yet to start are; carpentry and joinery, welding and fabrication, computer, masonry and welding.
The basic primary formal education prepares the children to join secondary education then university while the informal education prepares the young adults to venture into self reliant sustainable entrepreneurial projects.
The Centre benefits the Shanzu local community and is a facility that will continue enhancing child literacy levels and ensuring access to both formal and informal education to the less privileged, abandoned and orphaned children.
III. Needs/Problems
Population, Education and Development
The people of Shanzu community live in a vicious cycle of poverty. Majority of them live on less than a dollar a day, this translates to living below the poverty line according to the United Nations and the world community standards. In addition the illiteracy level among members of the community is wanting. It is estimated that of the eight (8) provinces in Kenya, the Coast province where Shanzu is located in comes second after North Eastern province. Out of every 50 people in the Coast province 30 are illiterate, 12 semi- illiterate, and only 8 literate who have been to past secondary school. The levels of literacy in Shanzu community are not pleasing either, out of every 10 inhabitants 6 are illiterate 2 semi-illiterate 2 literate only. Out of 20 people only 3 have been past Secondary school with a majority dropping out of school at the primary level.
Shanzu Educational Centre an already established school project in the community by the community is in a totally dilapidated state, the class rooms are in such a sorry state such that children in the pre-unit classes are forced to share seats as they are few, the floor of the classrooms are worn out by the wear and tear they have been exposed to for such a long time. The floors as a result of this are dusty and are a good breeding ground for jiggers and other harmful insects posing a health hazard to the little innocent kids. The wall of most of the class rooms are constructed with semi permanent materials and are almost collapsing, this exposes both the teachers and the pupils to such an unsafe learning environment for fear that the walls might collapse on them at any particular time. The school has got only 3 toilets and as is the case one was meant to be for teachers, one for the boys’ pupils and the remaining for the girl pupils. But alas this is not the case the pupils share these three toilets which are not even enough among all the sexes and forcing the teachers to seek alternate toilets from some of the nearby residential houses. This toilets to are not as good as one would expect, they are pit latrines dug inside one big house known as “Swahili House” and shared by several people who might not even be from the same household neither related to each other thus posing such a major health threat. Water a basic necessity is not easily accessible, water is sold by local vendors at a price of Kenya Shillings Three (3/=) per jerican. Pupils have to go buy the water every morning before attending classes, this they do on a rotational basis i.e. today class 7 pupils tomorrow class 8 another day class 6 then class five are these are considered bid enough and can handle the 20 litre Jerican which will be shared by all pupils from kindergarten to the top most class, class 8.
Books are a nightmare, it makes no sense to tell kid who does not have a parent or whose parent is bedridden by HIV/AIDS to spare at least 200/= Kenya Shillings to buy a book yet even that food for them to eat is not there. So will the books come first or food? Most books are donations from well wishers for which pupils have to share, for every 6 pupils 1 book during a class session.
Electricity seems a luxury here and members of this school and community just hear about it they can not utlise any electric gadget like a computer to aid them in learning. A study conducted by the Self-help Group in December 2008 indicated that out of the every 100 structures in the area only 2 have electricity. The community has been relegated to the olden ages of learning yet other pupils elsewhere have access to these facilities like electricity and computers even connected to the internet. This disadvantages the children here as at the end of their primary school they will all sit the same exams as those who have access to the vast resources and facilities. Most pupils drop out of school not because they like but prevailing circumstances force them as may be they are suppose to shoulder parental responsibilities and raise their other siblings for their parents are either dead from HIV/AIDS, come from single parent families or guardians/parents are totally poor.
The school doesn’t even have a fence this makes learning very difficult as villagers walk pass the class rooms making loud noises and even some who are already drunk cause scenes as they pass.
The play ground space is small and isn’t enough for the children who at times would like to play and run about, for play is very important to that well being and development of children.
Shanzu village is located on the North Coast part of Mombasa, about 15 kilometres from Mombasa Town. The community is characterized by poor living standards epitomized by informal settlements a clear indication of the stark reality of the high poverty level in which the community lives in. The majority of residents of this area depend on tourism as the only economic activity, there earnings are meager making access to financial services a dream, thus they can not engage in any meaningful investments. Many family units comprise of HIV/AIDS orphaned children, infected parents, poor guardians and single parents. Residents spend most of their time idle and resort to drinking of illicit brews and cheap liquor in the village drinking joints. This is so because the tourism industry in which the majorities are employed in, is one charcterised by low and high seasons. During low seasons the hotel industry off lays majority of their employees and remain with only a bunch full to run the hotel which by then has few guests. Most employees have their services contracted on casual basis thus during low seasons many are idle with no employment waiting for the season to pick up and get back to work-and only if you are lucky as competition for these informal job slots are high among residents compounded by long periods out of employment. No tourists translate to no work to the community members and no work means no money in the long run.
Youth, Children, Women, Drugs and HIV/A.I.D.S
Groups of youths smoking cannabis sativa(marijuana) and injecting themselves with hard drugs using shared syringes is a common occurrence and rarely raises eye brows anymore. This the youth do as a means of trying to run away from their socio-economic problems unaware or if aware ignoring the dangers they expose themselves to from a risk of getting infected with HIV/AIDS from the shard syringes to the dependency and finally death caused by drugs related scenarios.
The most vulnerable group being women and children, child prostitution and labour levels are at alarming rate. Nationally 1.3 million (aged 5 to 17) were engaged in child labour in 1998/99. The majority of working children age between 10 and 14 years with the highest majority in the Coast, Eastern and Rift Valley provinces(19-19.8%). In Shanzu Village, Coast province some children are usually sent to the beaches very early in the morning to sell bananas, mangoes, peanuts and other items by their parents while their peers are in school, this they do for without it their families won’t have food on the table come evening. This denies the children an opportunity to attend school and achieve their full potential. Shanzu is located on a close proximity to Mtwapa town a factor that compounds the situation more. Mtwapa is baptized as the ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ of Mombasa, this is where commercial sex trade thrives and the town usually comes vibrantly to life by night. The town of Mtwapa is known for this reason to as far as Europe and always attracts people from all walks and parts of the world when touring Mombasa the Coastal city of Kenya. The girl child and youth females are pushed into commercial sex and child labour against their wishes for the main reason of poverty. This exposes them to a position of exploitation by the male clientele visiting Mtwapa. Many always partake in the trade with the hope that one day lady luck may come their way, get a ‘Mzungu’ and bid bye to poverty. This is not usually the case as many contract HIV/AIDS long before they can realize this dream and die young. Although as previously mentioned that children and women are the most vulnerable, the children bear the burden most and this project seek to address this position.
IV. Goals/Objectives
The demand for basic services, including education, healthcare, financial and business development skills is high and very few people can access these services within Shanzu community. The people of Shanzu continue to suffer under poverty and its associated effects, not withstanding the needs of children are complex and diverse and involve catering for all areas of development yet this appears a far dream in Shanzu. It is in this light that Nyaeri Self Help Group seeks to upgrade through a community development programme-SHANZU EDUCATIONAL CENTRE located in Mombasa District, Shanzu- about 15 kilometres from Mombasa town on the North Coast part of the town/Island.