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GOAL in Kenya
GOAL began to support humanitarian and development initiatives
in Kenya in 1992. The current GOAL Kenya programme has offices
in two locations: Nairobi and Nakuru.
The Nairobi programme comprises five interrelated
projects that target children and youth in difficult circumstances
in the Nairobi slums. Its overall objective is to empower vulnerable
children and youth in difficult circumstances to enjoy their rights
and fulfil their potential for sustainable well-being.
Children’s Community Education Project:
Based in the Mukuru slum of Nairobi, the CCEP provides accelerated
non-formal education to children between 7-18 years who have dropped
out of school. One hundred and twenty children participate in
the one-year programme and are prepared to re-join the Government’s
free primary education system or vocational training programmes
at the end of the year. In addition, a mobile school unit engages
street children and youth living on the streets and slums and
at the Nairobi dump site in creative, innovative, informal learning
in their community. GOAL also houses a community resource centre
in the CCEP, which both students and adults use for a variety
of educational activities. In partnership with Make a Better World-
Kenya (MABWOK), a local NGO, GOAL offers adult literacy classes
to illiterate adults in the slums with support from the Ministry
of Education’s Adult Literacy Department.
Vocational Skills Training Programme: The VSTP
supports local community-based organisations (CBOs) that cater
to street and slum youth from disadvantaged backgrounds in the
slum areas of eastern Nairobi. The programme works to increase
the capacity of CBOs that provide vocational skills training and
apprenticeship in sectors such as carpentry, hairdressing and
catering. In partnership with the Mukuru Skills Development Project,
GOAL also supports a large vocational skills training centre that
serves the Mukuru area and trains youth in carpentry and hairdressing.
Health and HIV/AIDS Initiative (HAHI): GOAL’s
work in health, HIV and AIDS focuses on improving health and HIV/AIDS
interventions among vulnerable and marginalised children and youth.
HAHI is working towards a four-fold integrated focus to affect
children and youth: health promotion and HIV/AIDS prevention;
health and HIV/AIDS youth-friendly service improvements; working
through increased partnerships to broaden our impact; and
networking, advocacy and collaboration.
This project intends to enhance the ability of children and youth
to recognise risky behaviour and make informed decisions to change
their behaviours so as to minimise the spread of HIV/AIDS and
reduce the risks of new infections. Children and youth will be
equipped with life skills and knowledge to be able to mitigate
the factors contributing to their vulnerability.
The project uses Behaviour Change Communication tools to teach
the project’s beneficiaries about HIV, and it also actively
refers patients for care and treatment services to other service
providers. The project also supports its local partner WOFAK-
Women Fighting AIDS in Kenya- in providing care and support to
People Living with HIV and AIDS.
Environmental Health Project: Working in partnership
with a local partner, Umande Trust, the first phase of this project
is to construct community latrine blocks in the Nairobi slums
where GOAL operates its other projects. GOAL believes that by
providing more holistic support to its target group means that
all activities will have a bigger impact. In this case, by providing
beneficiaries with clean water and sanitation facilities, the
health, education and HIV prevention interventions will have a
bigger impact. Components of these programmes will then be brought
into the facilities, enabling youth groups to expand their impact
in health promotion, HIV/AIDS prevention, non-formal education
and income generation. GOAL and Umande Trust have also conducted
a detailed needs assessment to identify the environmental health
priorities they will address in 2009.
GOAL is committed to responding to any emergency. Therefore, when
violence broke out in Kenya after the election in December 2007,
GOAL responded. From Nakuru, GOAL provided support to the victims
of the violence through different interventions.
Distribution of Non-Food Items: GOAL provided
emergency relief supplies to 25,000 people immediately after the
onset of the emergency in Central Rift Province and Nairobi’s
informal settlements. In addition, through GOAL Uganda, GOAL assisted
Kenyans who fled to the border with Uganda to safety. The supplies
included sanitary supplies, soap, and additional blankets to those
who had lost everything.
Water and Sanitation: GOAL also improved water
and sanitation facilities in camps for the displaced people and
in schools affected by the crisis. As people lost their homes,
many schools became camps for the displaced, and the latrines
intended to serve small groups of students were not enough for
the influx of displaced people. During the recovery phase, GOAL
distributed seeds and fertiliser to 3,700 small scale farmers
as they returned to their home communities in Central Rift Valley.
Transitional Shelter Kits: GOAL, in partnership
with UNHCR through 2008 and into 2009, has helped 2630 families
by providing transitional shelter kits for those wishing to return
to their homes following the violence in the South Rift Valley.
GOAL assisted the elderly and female headed households to construct
their homes, while those with able-bodied family members constructed
theirs with new tools from GOAL.
Accolades on GOAL Kenya
‘We respect very highly the excellent work GOAL is doing in Kenya, and globally for street children.’
Dr Nicholas Alipui, UNICEF, Kenya.
Slums in Nairobi : Thousands of children have been helped by GOAL in Nairobi - giving the
young ones back their childhood and the older ones a chance to make their own way as adults.
( Listen to
GOALies describe the programmes in Africa)
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