Introduction
Harambee in Swahili means “ Let’s pull together”
Harambee Youth Kenya (aka HYK) is a community-based youth empowerment organization in the Dagoretti area of Nairobi working to empower youths through education and economic empowerment programs. The organization incorporates local and international initiatives to provide sustenance, education, financial inclusion and economic empowerm
ent to communities of youth. Our mission is to equip the youths with education, skills and abilities to be productive members of the society and to positively impact their local community at large. HYK runs a number of programs:
1) Digital Skills Training - Harambee Youth Kenya trains talented and motivated young adults with high value skills in the areas of programming, graphic design and media production through with they can earn income. We aim to train 200 youth annually.
2) Career Guidance and Counselling - We engage students and parents to help them understand the various career options available and how they can make good career choices for themselves or their children4t respectively.
3) Table Banking - Our table banking models convenes communities of youth by pooling their resources to improve their livelihoods.
4) Scholarships - Every year we award scholarships to bright but underprivileged young women and men to join high school, college, and vocational training institutions. Brief History of Harambee Youth Kenya
Harambee Youth Kenya started in 2011 as a rescue center for street and vulnerable youths when the first program of providing education and housing to seventeen boys who were previously living on the streets was initiated. However due to inadequate resources and other challenges, there was a need to establish a new approach of providing support remotely, therefore in 2012, Harambee Youth Kenya rescue center was phased out and majority of the boys were re-integrated into the community through introduction of home-based support program. Through the program, many of the boys were reunited with their families and for the few that had no relatives, through the support of the organization, they rented their own houses and start new lives. Achievement so far
So far, Harambee Youth Kenya has supported over 2,000 youth through provision of welfare support including food and shelter, education, and other economic empowerment programs geared towards enabling them be self reliant. Majority of our beneficiaries are now able to support themselves and are also giving back to the society in different ways.
