ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

The AfCiC Economic Empowerment programme is designed to give people the tools to be able to support themselves economically. Primarily, this part of our work is aimed not at children who live and work on the streets, more at youths and families, those who have the capacity to work and to forge livelihoods themselves.

MAIN OBJECTIVES

  • To prevent children from dropping out of school to the streets because of lack of basic provision through economically empowering their guardian..

  • To help parents regain the self-esteem they have lost through poverty and their inability to meet their children’s basic needs, giving them a legitimate income to support themselves and their dependants.

  • To teach parents and guardians financial responsibility by giving loans, rather than aid, which have to be repaid over time.

    To enable guardians of vulnerable children to provide for the basic needs of the children in their care, without having to depend on hand-outs.

    To engage street youths in legal and productive training and work. To enable youths and parents who want to get into work to not be hindered by not being literate.

How we do it
The activity consists in the development of the personal skills of child workers and street children with the start of professional start-up and apprenticeship courses with local artisans, shops and workshops, etc. In addition to contact with potential employers, the project also involves raising parents’ awareness of the important role of supporting and encouraging their children in continuing the new activities undertaken: the social workers of AfCiC realize meetings with parents and artisans to monitor the educational path of the children. Another important activity involves the supply of livelihoods to the most vulnerable households, especially those affected by HIV / Aids. The organization distributes dairy goats and economic contributions to the communities so that families can start income-generating activities, especially in agriculture. AfCiC collaborates with four groups of women – each consisting of about forty / sixty people – in different counties adjacent to Thika, where high infection rates have occurred. FOOD SUPPORT According to the census carried out by AfCiC in 2011, 65% of street children abandon their family nucleus of origin due to hunger. The school food program therefore aims to the goal of guaranteeing the most vulnerable and vulnerable children of slums a hot meal a day in the schools they attend, thus also reducing school drop-out. The program takes place in the three elementary schools of Garissa Road, St. Patrick and Karibaribi and has proved particularly effective also for the improvement of academic performance..

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