HISTORY OF KVC
Former Street children came up with the concept of the Kawangware Vision Center in 2001 after seeing the need to create positive opportunities for the at risk youth and the marginalized children of Kawangware. They began a micro-business in which youth hand make eco-friendly, silkscreened gift bags, greeting( and other occasional) cards, and gift wraps; they then sell these items to Kenyan businesses and safari companies. The weekly profits are divided among the youth participants and used to support their basic needs such as food, shelter, medical care, and education while also taking care of the community’s orphaned and vulnerable children. Additionally, a portion of the business, weaving banana leaf and sisal handles for the bags, is contracted out to 20 single teen mothers in the community so that they too can generate an income.
The project as initiated has continued to be led by local youth making it youth and children friendly. All the youth at both management level and operation level in the project have been born and raised up in the slums and not only do they know the social dynamics of the area, but they have lived to experience it themselves and are driven by the desire to bring change within their realities. There is a general goal of creating and impacting leadership and managerail skills to both youth and children at the Centre.
The project also has a well defined institutional capacity and is willing to even build it further so as to increase its competency in addressing the challenges in a professionally acceptable way. To further strengthen this, the project has already transformed itself from a CBO to a local NGO.
The project does also not opperate in isolation but engages in collaborations with other organisations with similar objectives and local proffessionals as well as the local authority.
The project as initiated has continued to be led by local youth making it youth and children friendly. All the youth at both management level and operation level in the project have been born and raised up in the slums and not only do they know the social dynamics of the area, but they have lived to experience it themselves and are driven by the desire to bring change within their realities. There is a general goal of creating and impacting leadership and managerail skills to both youth and children at the Centre.
The project also has a well defined institutional capacity and is willing to even build it further so as to increase its competency in addressing the challenges in a professionally acceptable way. To further strengthen this, the project has already transformed itself from a CBO to a local NGO.
The project does also not opperate in isolation but engages in collaborations with other organisations with similar objectives and local proffessionals as well as the local authority.
