5) Description of initiative: SIDAREC is a youth development project operating in the slums of Nairobi. It was established in 1997 as a community based youth group with an aim of tapping and consolidating skills and talents existing among the youths in the community for the common benefit of the slum dwellers. This was in line with the acceptable knowledge that despite all the problems afflicting slum dwellers, from a bird’s eye; a lot of untapped resources existed in the communities and acknowledged and utilized would be useful in bringing the much needed positive development change under concept that “solutions to community problems can only be adequately addressed by the locals themselves.” Young people face numerous problems. From poverty, ignorance to crime and political exploitation the youth form a restive constituency easy to manipulate. The result of this is chaos in the slums.

Our mission is to facilitate and encourage the involvement of youth in deprived communities to participate in their own development and that of their communities through capacity enhancement by providing tools for economic empowerment and training in relevant life-skills. The talents and skills that the community has if natured can create positive change eventually raising their standard of living.

To alleviate poverty in the slums, SIDAREC has been providing start up capitals to various youth groups as a way to make them engaged in meaningful activities. Apart from training them on business and management skills, they are also given civic education as part of our initiative to create awareness among the community members on their human rights. A people who are aware of their rights and economically empowered have little time to engage in anti- social activities than the people who are ignorant with no economic power. When you empowered the youth, you deny politicians a constituency they use to fight their own wars which has been causing constant conflicts in the slums.

6) Description of innovation: SIDAREC’s approach to development is different from others in that the organization was founded and is managed by young people who lived in the slums of Nairobi who realized that the only way to empower themselves and their community is to come up with the program that addresses their fears and aspiration as a people. Whenever we start a project in other slums, we allow the people from that area to manage and come up with their own initiatives. They know their problems and it is them who can solve them. SIDAREC has the following programs all which are geared towards solving the community problems: Early Childhood Development (in two slums); bakery project; Community clinic; Library and Community Telecentre. Our telecentres have wireless internet connection making it the only organization to operate such services in the slums of Nairobi. SIDAREC came up with these two programs as away of enlightening people living in the slums bearing in mind lack of information technology in the slums. The concept of a Community library was a response to the lack of a conducive-studying environment which is lacking in the slums. Lack of these facilities denies the community members especially school going children and young people an opportunity to catch up in education and Information Technology. The Library has over 20,000 books. SIDAREC is the only youth manage organization in Kenya to put up wireless connectivity and a library that uses KOHA Software to do cataloging, and where people in the slums could come and surf and do research using the internet. It’s only at SIDAREC that you will be allowed, accepted and appreciated with minimal or no education. It’s only at SIDAREC that you will be allowed to pull yourself from apathy, despair, frustration, weakened dreams, missed opportunities to a world of confidence, self esteem, opportunities and all that goes with developing a holistic young person who leads an independent, honest and productive life on a sustainable basis.

7) Delivery model: Our mode of delivering services to the community is very simple; we use same people in the community to deliver the services and communicate the same to the community because they are known and know the problem that is faced by their peers. All the people working with SIDAREC are community members living in the same neighborhoods. They know themselves well and what the community needs. Some of the models we use to deliver our services to the community include Youth/Elder forum, peer educators, social workers, community health workers and the parents of the children we have under the Early Childhood Development who have been very valuable to our work. The resource centres also acts as information gathering points. Other mechanism used includes workshops, seminars, trainings as well as community representatives representing various villages and interest groups within the slums.

As a dissemination organization, SIDAREC uses theatre to pass on messages in the community. We use drama, songs, poem and puppetry to let the community know what we do or intend to do. We also print flyers that are then pasted within the community. The resource Centres acts as drop- ins for the children, youth and women. This is one mode of taking our initiatives the community.

8) Key operational partnerships: One of the partnership we have put forward as an organization is one of accountability and transparency. We involve community members come up with the programming and budgeting. This means that when funds are disbursed, they know what to expect. We also use scorecard on all the projects that the organization undertakes and this enable us to know if we are achieving our objective. The organization also audit its books of accounts which we send to partners like funders, the government and copies kept in the office for anybody wishing to peruse to go through.

Some of our partners include the government and donors. The government has been supportive of our initiative by providing us land to put up the two resource centres. This has saved us money for paying rents which could have been costly for the organization. The government has also been providing immunization, family planning and TB drugs to SIDAREC clinic, which could have not been possible without their support. Our donors, especially the Ford Foundation has been very supportive since SIDAREC started and has been in the forefront of helping us come up with the sustainability project. They have already committed US200, 000 for the first phase of the project. This make SIDAREC self-sustainable, not to depend on donor funding. Other partners include network members that we call upon during training, workshop and seminar periods.

9) Financial model: SIDAREC operates a revolving fund for the youth and young mothers we have their children under the ECD program. The revolving fund is meant to provide the youth with a means of livelihood while at the same time keeping them off ant- social activities. Some of the projects that we have funded through the revolving fund is helping one of the youth group to construct a rental building and rehabilitation of toilets. Young mothers are offered the fund to start selling second hand cloths, shoes, vegetables, fruits to help them take care of their families. Others benefit from the training which they use to receive loan/funds elsewhere. In other instances, we have managed to help people affected/infected by HIV/AIDS to put up a community bakery as part of sustainability initiative.

          • Costs as percentage of income: 0%

          • Financing: The initiative is financed through grants. To make sure that we continue providing vital services that are needed in the community, SIDAREC is coming up with Sustainability Initiative which part of it is already being financed by the Ford Foundation at a tune of $200,000. This is the first Phase of the project. Other initiatives that we have taken to see to it that what the community started becomes self-sustainable is by helping the come up with projects that sustains themselves.

10) Effectiveness

          • Project outcomes: Over the years SIDAREC has registered various achievements, which continue to motivate and strengthen its programme operations. over 60,552 people have benefited directly from SIDAREC activities. • SIDAREC manages two Resource Centres in Majengo and Mukuru Kwa Njenga. The centres comprise of a community library, a reproductive health clinic, a recreation center, a pre- school and a computer training center. These two slums have a combine population of over 500,000 people. The programs that have benefited people most includes the community clinic, library, telecentre, income generating activities, training in computer, business management and early childhood development. We have also been training peer educators, social workers and community health workers in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

          • Number of clients in past year: Over 5,000 people trained on business management and entrepreneurship skills;1200 people given funds for businesses;78 youth have sustainable businesses,with 42 being in a group of two managing housing and toilet projects.109 women have their project doing well enabling them to support themselves and their children;2500 peer educators have been trained;150 community health workers, 65infected clients have been assisted under our home-based care project. About 200 orphans and 500 affected people have been given material and emotional (counseling) support.17-orphaned children receive bursaries and scholarship;Over 500 children pass through ECD yearly, 15,762 children vacinated against polio and measles.50-70 people access internet and library daily, 30 get medical attention daily.

11) Scaling up strategy

          • Stage of the initiative: Scaling Up stage.

          • Expansion plan: As part of SIDAREC sustainability initiative and scale-up strategy, SIDAREC is putting up a youth institute and a hostel. The first Phase of the project, destined to kick of early 2007 is funded by the Ford Foundation. When all the phases are complete, we will not only be able to support our current projects/programs within the slums and parts of rural areas, but will enable us to provide support to youth and women groups. These group have got good initiatives and ideas that if supported can help reduce poverty in the slums and rural areas.

We expect to upgrade Mukuru community bakery from manual to electric so that the production increase from the present production capacity of 600 loaves and scorns 3,500. This will not only allow the project to scale up, but make people manning the project to be self- sustainable.

12) Origin of the initiative: In 1996, a group of 50 unemployed youth came together to form a cultural troupe as a way of keeping them busy and at the same time earning them an income to sustain them and their families. We were all actors/actresses, writing and directing our own plays. in Kenya. We would perform in schools, colleges and social centres. We would then be paid after performance. Due to religious differences we had to come up with a venue acceptable to all. We used practice in church which was not popular with our Muslim brothers. We had to request the government for land to put up our own resource centre. The construction was done by the youth themselves using mud thatched wall and iron sheets. To us, this was a true ownership. The event behind our work was motivated by lack of educational and employment opportunities, resulting to the coinage “Community problem needs Community Solutions”.

Contact Information:
George  Onyango
Project Administrator
Project Administrator
(NGO)
P.O.BOX 9687-00300, NACICO Plaza, Landhies Road
Kenya
Tel: 254-20-246961/254-721 986320
Email: geogias@yahoo.com
Website: www.sidarec.or.ke ; www.sidarec.org