Future bora is now changing lives Kenya’s ICT ministry says

Future bora is now changing lives Kenya’s ICT ministry says

In Today’s Latest KYEOP News– The Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Sh120 million Future Bora (Bright Future) Initiative-funded project, has taken shape and is benefiting thousands of young people directly and indirectly.

The State Department’s youth affairs technical team reviewed the progress of projects to assess their impact on groups considered vulnerable to wealth and job opportunities in society.

“We have identified four partners with whom we are working to implement Future Bora Project. We are on a monitoring and evaluation tour to assess the projects. We look at how young people were brought on board. The project is being implemented well so far and any challenges that arise we are looking at how best to solve them,” Mwongo added.Led by Administrative Secretary Mwongo Chimwaga, the team was enthusiastic about the impact of projects funded by the Kenya Youth Empowerment and Opportunities Project (KYEOP) on the lives of vulnerable groups in Mombasa and other districts.

Speaking at Mwakirungu Landfill in Mombasa County, Mwongo said KYEOP was impressed with the implementation of the project by Afya Research Africa, Hydroponics Africa Limited, Life In Abundance – Kenya and TakaTaka Solutions Limited.

The four, selected from over 339 applicants, implement it future Bora Project each received Sh30 million in grants, disbursed in milestone-based tranches, and capacity-building support to expand economic opportunities for at-risk Kenyan youth.

Flanked by Coastal Region Youth Affairs Coordinator at the Department for ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs, Charles Ayeko, Mwongo said the four organizations received the grant to implement projects that would offer multiple interventions that would increase economic opportunities for vulnerable and underprivileged people would expand. ministered to Kenyan youth in Kwale, Kilifi, Mombasa, Nairobi, Kiambu, Narok and Kajiado counties.

They toured a waste management project run by Taka Taka Solutions Limited and interacted with dozens of single parents and youth who have been enrolled in the projects.

The group collects rubbish from the landfill, sorting it into different items before selling it to the organization where a person can earn up to Sh20,000 a week depending on their effort.

After a detailed tour of the project, Mwongo welcomed the success of the waste management project, which has employed 250 people directly and over 1000 indirectly.

“We visit the Mwakirunge landfill. Taka Taka Solutions is one of the partners chosen to implement this project. We are here to see the impact of the project it is carrying out in this area. It has so far employed 250 youth and over 1000 others working around the landfill. The organization has also set up a kindergarten to take care of the children while their mothers work at the landfill,” he added.

He said the organization has shown the right solution to nagging waste management challenges across the country.

“If we look at waste management under Taka Taka Solutions, we see that waste management challenges are broad and affect the whole country. We are examining how this can be emulated in other counties. If you see that it needs the majority of young people to implement it, then we can kill two birds with one stone. Disposal of waste and at the same time taking care of most of the young population,” he remarked.

The organization’s director, Norah Nyagah, told the youth affairs delegation that her organization intends to attract more vulnerable groups living around the Mwakirunge landfill to the project.

“We work with different groups that provide us with different types of waste collected from the landfill. We train them to separate the waste into different components. We have cardboard boxes, single-use plastics and others. We buy materials at this buyback center and sort them into different fractions based on quality, color, type and density,” Nyagah added.

Taka Taka Solutions Limited, which also operates at Dandora and other landfills around the country, collects waste materials and sells them to recycling plants.

“In cooperation with the government, we managed to set up buy-back centers in Mombasa, Kitengela, Dandora and Thika. This has created employment opportunities for over 1,000 garbage collectors, 80 percent of whom are youth and women due to their proximity to landfills and ease of obtaining waste materials from garbage collectors,” she added.

Future Bora is being advanced by the government under the five-year Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunity Project (KYEOP), which has been capitalized at Sh15 billion (US$141.7 million) from the World Bank.

Populations covered by the program include orphans, people with disabilities, youth living in conflict-affected areas, youth from vulnerable and marginalized communities, street youth and young single mothers.

The project will cover more than 280,000 youth between the ages of 18 and 29, with some components extending the age up to 35 years.

Future Bora will support interventions tailored to the local and highly specific needs of the most vulnerable youth. Additionally, it aims to expand economic opportunities for the most vulnerable and underserved Kenyan youth.