Onestop Youth Centre - Nairobi

TARGET GROUP
Nairobi Onestop Youth Information Resource centre is premised on the need to have a place where young people can address their issues and exercise their influence on what kind of services they would like the centre to offer. All young people without exception are welcomed to the centre regardless of their background. We seek to empower the youth through a comprehensive integrated appr

oach so as to achieve sustainable development. In collaboration with our partners, we organise, create and avail opportunities for young people all under `one roof`

THEMATIC AREAS
Our thematic areas are meant to address some of the pertinent issues affecting young people today, thus at Onestop we strive to offer answers to all their queries to the best of our ability. However, in case we are unable to do this it is our responsibility to direct or refer them to a relevant service that will specifically respond to their question(s.) We also do conduct outreach activities to bring our services closer to those who cannot access our centre. The centre does have trained personnel in youth information work who are mandated to provide relevant information in the different focal points. Employment
Onestop cannot guarantee anyone a job but can guarantee to take you through the entire process of a job hunter (tarmacking). Nowadays searching for a job has in a sense become a job in itself but at Onestop we will take you through this process in a friendly approach and offer you tips that could land you that `dream job`. Through our partnership with African Youth Trust (AYT) we offer training on employability skills. Entrepreneurship
Young people remain largely unemployed in today’s world and even the fewer opportunities available to them are harder to come by. One of the ways of reducing this problem is to empower young people with required skills and information that will no longer make them job seekers but job creators. Thus, Onestop views entrepreneurship as key factor in availing opportunities for young people and encouraging them to unleash their inherent potential. Environment
Onestop provides information on local and regional activities for youth to conserve their environment. It links young people with relevant agencies, provides training and creates awareness on environmental issues and develops a network of conscientious environment youth groups. In particular it targets young women engaged in efforts geared towards conserving the environment. Reproductive Health
As regards health issues Onestop being a youth centre pays more emphasis on reproductive health. In close partnership with HOPE WORLDWIDE we offer free voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) at the centre which has had an overwhelming response .In order to have this important service accessible to everyone, we organise for outreach activities at the community level. Onestop also organises workshops for young people with the support of our partners on HIV and AIDS, peer education among other areas. Citizenship
It has been realised that young people have more to lose if they continue playing a passive role on affairs that will most likely affect them in future. Out of this realisation Onestop disseminates relevant information and trains young people to be leaders of today, not tomorrow. The assumption is that young people will no longer take issues for granted and shall therefore actively participate in governance issues at the local, national and international level. Information communication and technology (ICT)
In this information era, young people lacking ICT skills stand to lose more. As a measure towards reducing computer illiteracy amongst young people onestop initiated training in this field whose benefits remain enormous and untapped. This training programme aims at imparting basic computer skills to out of school youth with a bias to those coming from disadvantaged backgrounds. This programme is also unique since the tutors are young persons acting as a volunteer at the centre. Since the inception of the ICT training more than 500 young people have benefited.