Vocational Training
Girls and young women who flee their villages to escape female genital mutilation, sometimes known as FGM for short, face a dilemma: how to survive in a world where they are shunned by family and friends, have little education and few job prospects. Sadly, all too many face a future that condemns them to a life of poverty, sexual exploitation and, in far too many cases, physical harm.
Over the next three years, we intend to expand our efforts to reduce the incidence of FGM, but also provide the practical job training that local girls will need to live more prosperous, independent lives. Our goal is to significantly expand our vocational training program for girls and young women and provide job training in a variety of fields, including those traditionally occupied solely by men.
Creating New Job Opportunities for Women
Currently, the Mission’s vocational training program, which focuses mainly on industrial sewing and tailoring, has assisted more than 300 girls who have graduated from primary school but lack the capacity to go on to secondary school or pursue a college certificate or university degree. The new vocational training center will expand on that effort by providing accredited certificate classes in welding, electrical repair and installation, plumbing and baking … trades that until now have traditionally been off-limits to Kenyan women.
Jobs: Breaking the Cycle Poverty for Women
The goal is to provide graduates with sufficient income to independently raise and educate their children and, through personal example, help break the cycle of poverty and tradition that sustains the practice of FGM. Unlike most commercial vocational training programs in Kenya, this new non-profit facility will emphasize hands-on learning as well as theory. Over time, we believe this approach will further build the Centre’s reputation as one of Kenya’s premier vocational training programs and expand its ability to sustain itself financially through government grants, foundation support and scholarships our many overseas supporters. The center will operate as a non-commercial entity and all profits will be channeled back to the Mission to support girls fleeing FGM and childhood marriage.
An Island of Success; A Culturally Sensitive Model
In addition, the Centre will provide its students the opportunity to participate in sex education classes conducted by a highly progressive Kenyan NGO known as the ABCs of Sex Education. The ABC program is well-known and has provided training seminars to more than 20,000 persons across much of rural Kenya. By combining vocational training and sex education, including in particular STD prevention, the project will seek to deliver a powerful and convincing message to its clients in a novel formula involving two areas of work that are often conducted without coordination or follow-up.
Indeed, by combining vocational training and sex education, we intend to create a culturally-sensitive model that can achieve significant impact within three-years and then be scaled up to reach thousands more in subsequent years. A key objective will be to create an island of success in and around the Narok area and promote that success as a means of encouraging other tribal and family groups in other parts of Kenya to abandon FGM.
The project, which is expected to cost $225,000 over three years, will be conducted under an umbrella provided by African Childrens Haven, a US-based non-profit that will take responsibility for coordination, fund raising and reporting.
Tailoring Project Funded by Global Philanthropic Alliance
Tailoring Project Classroom
With funding from Global Philanthropic Alliance, Mission With a Vision has started a tailoring program aimed at empowering women to start their own business. The goal is to help women forced into early marriage, gain skills which will help them start businesses for themselves. Most of the women have not had the opportunity to attend school. This project is well suited to the women, since it involves practical skills. We are seeking funding to employ a teacher and purchase books to give the trainees the basic reading and writing skills necessary once they start their businesses. We will also seek further funding from Global Philanthropic Alliance to expand the project and make it self-sustaining through production of clothes for sale by those who have received training. We thank Global Philanthropic Alliance for this support.
The sewing room.
Sometimes girls that are rescued and brought to the safe house are too old to join normal school program. This has happened in quite a number of cases where girls rescued are over 18 years and have never entered school. In such a situation we have decided to give them vocational training and also teach them the basics of how to read and write. We also hope to use this training to assist girls who were married off at a tender age and would like to learn a skill to help them assist their families.
We have been holding a pilot program the whole of this year and we had the privilege of getting a visit from the United States Ambassador to Kenya who saw firsthand what the girls are doing. The three girls who were in the pilot program have just graduated in October. We gave each one of them the sewing machine they have been using for the training so they could start their small businesses. We are now looking for donors to help us roll out the program.
Ewang’an Vocational Training School
Teacher at Osiligi Vocational Training
Our aspiration is to establish the “Ewang’an Vocational Training School” for some of the girls in the Safe House. Ewang’an, means light in Maasai. This will help to ensure that some of the girls that have completed their high school education can acquire professional skills without delay. While most of the girls at the safe house perform well enough to join colleges after high school, we are often faced with difficulty when it comes to finding vocational training for girls with little educational knowledge. As a result, some of these girls often end up without any means of acquiring professional expertise.
We believe that the vocational training school will be helpful in training these girls acquire a variety of skills applicable in the current job market.
Ewang’an will be a non-profit vocational training school. The curriculum will include:
• Computer programming, repair and maintenance
• Video shooting and editing
• Dress-making
• Bakery
• Farming
• Electric Installation
• Crafting
• Hair-dressing and Beauty Therapy
Our hope is to train about 20 girls. Also, we will include other girls from outside the Safe House that will pay to acquire vocational skills. Their training fee will be used to compensate the instructors at the school.
You can be part of this project by contributing towards the purchase of building the entire school. Our target in 2015 is to raise approximately 200,000 dollars to cater for expenses in buying land, and building the school. The donations will also be used to buy the equipment required for the training programs.
Join hands with us and help us build this school.
Warm Regards,
Patrick