Urban growth in Africa is fast and uncoordinated, so also in Nairobi. In Githurai residents live under difficult circumstances, such as extreme poverty, overpopulation, a large number of people suffering from HIV and poor access to water and sanitation. In addition the cost of living is increasing constantly. Illiteracy is a major problem, due to the poor socio-economic conditions in the slums, as a result of which parents have no money to let children go to school. Due to the lack of knowledge and skills, young people cannot find work and the vicious circle of poverty is maintained. Three in five young people in Githurai are unemployed, and the majority of them try to survive with illegal practices such as prostitution, crime and drug trafficking or use.

The Fountain Youth Initiative started in 2016 with a centre for vocational training that provides subsidised training in computer use and tailoring skills. Over the past three years, 600 young people have followed training at the vocational training centre and around 64% of them have found a job or started their own business. In August 2018 it started to setup a carpentry / furniture maker’s training, with the support of volunteers from the Flying Furniture Makers (Vliegende Meubelmakers), from The Netherlands. There is a small carpentry workshop where 8 students can follow a woodworking course each year. The demand for this training is much greater, but because of the limited number of woodworking machines and tools and because the training is now given by (not always available) volunteers, expansion is not possible right now. However, taking into account the promising possibilities for employment in Nairobi, expansion is desirable!

FYI wants to teach vulnerable young people in Githurai technical skills at an affordable price to enable them to learn a profession and find work, to generate income and to improve the living conditions of themselves and their communities.

To achieve this, the project set the following goals:

1. Every year 40 young people learn carpenter / furniture maker skills;
2. Trained young people will be assisted in finding work and for at least 70% of them work will be ensured;
3. A production workshop for furniture will be set up, where trained young people can find a workplace (temporarily or otherwise). With the sale of furniture it will be made possible to subsidise the training.

The training centre can operate fully independently financially after a one-year start-up period. Over a period of five years, the training centre will be expanded from the current two courses (computer and tailor) with four additional courses (furniture maker, metalworker, bread & pastry and car mechanic). These practice-oriented training courses will yield products made by the trainees. The sale of these products will gradually become the largest source of income for the centre.
The set-up of the carpenter / furniture maker course will cost the first year about € 7,500 and will generate revenues at approx. € 4,000. In the third year, the annual expenditures will be about € 5,250 and the income about € 6,150.

As soon as the production workshop becomes operational, the centre will generate sufficient income to subsidise the training programmes for the most disadvantaged young people.

Expansion of the furniture maker training requires € 4,500, of which € 2,400 for the purchase of machines and tools and € 2,100 for a trainer’s annual salary. The Transfair Foundation has made for this € 3,000 available.

The construction of the workshop will be realized with FYI’s own resources. To increase the capacity of carpentry and joiner training, woodworking machines and tools are needed. These are made available by the Tools To Work foundation from The Netherlands.

An amount of € 2,500 is involved with the overhaul of these (second-hand) machines and tools and the shipment thereof to Kenya. The financing of this is made available by the Transfair Foundation . The necessary machines and tools were ordered from the Tools To Work Foundation. At the end of February 2020 the container was ready for shipment and in April 2020 the container is expected in Kenya. Shortly thereafter, the workshop will be taken into use and the training will be started.