TUJENGANE TUINUANE Youth Skills for Business & CVE

TRAINING & VOLUNTEERING PROGRAM

The objective of the ‘Tujengane Tuinuane’ youth skills for business and CVE program is to enhance local youth access and ability to exploit devolved & private sector opportunities to prevent conflict and strengthen resilience against violent extremism. This is a one and half years program supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) that targets to equip youth in Kwale County with Business Skills, Basic Computer Skills, Graphic Design Skills, Countering Violent Extremism Skills, Photography and Videography. Successful applicants will undertake a three months training course with a mandatory volunteering requirement within the ward and village.

Recruitment for the Training & Volunteering Program

Interested male and female youth between 18 – 30 years can apply through the online application form. Interested youth should indicate their preferred period for training. All applicants should download our templates for recommendations from their area chief and village administrator to confirm if they are genuine residents of indicated location and village as specified in the application. The chief and village administrator will also recommend suitability of the applicants considering their socio economic backgrounds and character. Dully filled recommendation forms should be attached and submitted together with the application form.

Successful applicants will be assisted to use acquired business skills to write a business plan, use their basic graphic design and video making skills to develop CVE counter narrative messages for posting on the UMMAH portal and app gallery and further sharing on social media. The UMMAH portal and app will also help link graduates of the training with related businesses to provide them with more “on the job” training. During the period of training and volunteering the youth volunteers should be able to use acquired basic computer skills to open and use E-Citizen accounts, register for KRA PIN, register businesses online and complete iTax compliance processes all of which are requisite for AGPO certificate qualification and government tender contracting. Volunteer work will also entail reaching out to fellow youth with a mandatory requirement for each of the targeted 480 training volunteers to bring into the portal at least 10 other youth to realize the portal and app target of 4800 youth reached through this initiative. Each of the volunteers’ will develop a work plan based on the signed contract and based on the CVE training to engage in practical field work.

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TOP 5 WINNERS
BUSINESS STARTUP SEED CAPITAL

CVE Volunteer Awards

The following awards will be given to outstanding CVE volunteers based on the final evaluation report of the CVE Youth Volunteer Management Committee:

Top 5 winners – Each KSH.16, 800 business start-up seed capital.

THE CVE YOUTH TRAINING & VOLUNTEER PROGRAM MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

The roles of the committee include:

  1. Determining selection criteria for the volunteers and terms of engagement
  2. Participating in actual selection of the volunteers for the training program and field work
  3. Participate in quarterly meetings to discuss progress of the volunteers and rate their performance
  4. Participate in the final evaluation of volunteers at the end of the program
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The Youth Training & Volunteer Program is managed by a committee involving the following members:

Ward Administrator

Bongwe Gombato Ward - County Government of Kwale
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May I take this opportunity to thank Ummah Initiative for the continued interest and support towards the youth in Bongwe Gombato. Many thanks for the consideration to establish the first Tujengane Tuinuane youth empowerment center at the ward administration center. It is our greatest pleasure to host you and support you further so the intended objectives can be realised.

Bongwe Gombato ward is in Msambweni Sub County in Kwale County with a population of around 35,000 people. The ward has recently encountered sporadic incidences of violent extremism involving murder, kidnapping and harassment of youths. This has resulted in increased number of widows, orphans and school dropout and further aggravated into youth apathy towards socio-economic development, exposing the community to radicalization and violent extremism. As the area ward administrator I wish to state that I am so much honoured and impressed with the launch of the Tujengane Tuinuane program portal and app today because of its potential to empower Bongwe Gombato youth, and the room it creates for ease of access and fully utilization devolved economic opportunities and many other opportunities in various government departments and private sector. The time has come for Bongwe Gombato youth to compete with others not only from within Kwale County but all over the country and beyond in securing tenders, jobs and other opportunities for economic empowerment and career advancement.

This is not the first time UIG is working with my office. Last year they engaged the office in their social audit activity and I am happy to say I was impressed by their positive and objective approach towards development and oversight obligations. The activity made it possible for us to engage one on one with our youth, appreciate achievements and take note of weaknesses and challenges affecting realization of intended development goals. Ultimately we made good resolutions on maximization of opportunities and potential. If we can implement those resolutions, then we stand a better a chance of achieving economic empowerment of the youth and enhanced resilience against violent extremism through the county government program for sports and talent development.

I am happy that this second phase of the SCORE program will make it possible for us to start implementing the recommendations agreed upon during the previous social audit exercise. The portal and app we are launching today has further enhanced the good governance aspect of this program and I would encourage our youth to make very good use of the platform provided to enhance their voice in development matters.

I therefore reiterate my heartfelt gratitude to Ummah Initiative Group and USAID KENYA for considering to support our youths in Bongwe Gombato. Thank you for involving the Bongwe Gombato office right from the planning stages. You can count on my full support as the ward administrator and the support of the village administrators as well. Together we shall make this program a great success.

My message to Kwale County youth is that “It Can Not Happen Until You Make It Happen” This is in the spirit of our motto at Bongwe Gombato ward.

County Trade Development Officer

County Government of Kwale
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I commend the ‘Tujengane Tuinuane’ Youth Skills for Business and CVE program whose curriculum is designed to equip the youth with knowledge and practical skills to start and grow their businesses for employment and economic growth; with overall objective of enhancing resilience to counter violence extremism. The program culminates into the business plan competition which is a process of refining the participant’s business ideas into bankable business enterprises.

The Kwale County Biashara Center is privileged to be associated with the program and will be offering business development support to all the emerging young entrepreneurs participating in the program.

Msambweni Sub County Administrator

County Government of Kwale
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Msambweni Sub County is one of the four Sub counties in Kwale County, and has four wards namely; Gombato Bongwe ward, Ukunda ward, Kinondo ward and Ramisi ward.

Tujengane Tuinuane youth economic empowerment initiative is a programme that has come at the right time for the youth and community members, therefore on behalf of every person in Msambweni Sub County, especially our youth, I say ‘asante’ to Ummah Initiative Group and USAID Kenya.

There are myriads of challenges facing youth in the sub county such as unemployment, poverty as well as drugs and substance abuse, making them vulnerable to violent extremism and other social vices. Youth who have been recruited to join Al Shabab in Somalia and later returned home, have caused social unrest in the village particularly in the two wards of Ukunda and Gombato Bongwe. I believe that the Tujengane Tuinuane program will go a long way in engaging young persons in various aspect of their livelihood through the business skills training, mentoring and nurturing of potential profitable business ideas for a positively engaged and economically productive youth.

The sports and talent program for economic empowerment of our youth is also a great idea which my office and the County Government of Kwale fully support. With the launch of the portal today, the ICT skills that the youth shall acquire in the process of using the portal, shall open their world to infinite opportunities creating extremely valuable linkages between our young citizens and successful sector players for appropriate guidance, coaching and mentoring.

We thank Ummah Initiative Group great sense of professionalism, fine work, excellent participatory planning and genuine desire to deliver quality tangible results. I am proud to be part of the program team. I strongly encourage our youth to seize these opportunities for the betterment of their lives. Inshallah God will lead us to achieve the desired success!

Assistant County Commissioner, Matuga

County Government of Kwale
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Ever since USAID & Ummah Initiative started working with young people in Matuga, there has been a notable improvement in their lives. Cooperation with government offices – both national and county – has enhanced their understanding of government procedure & policy with regard to a number of areas such as security, procurement, gender & youth affairs among others.

However, as much as these efforts are appreciated, a lot still remains to be done to ensure all is well in an ever changing global village of which we are all a part of. The youth face several challenges such as unemployment which leaves them vulnerable to be lured and recruited by criminal entities and terror groups. It is for this reason, among others, that we look forward to continually work together with UIG.

I commend UIG for considering Waa Ng’ombeni ward youth as pioneer beneficiaries of the Tujengane Tuinuane Youth Skills for Business and CVE. Waa Ng’ombeni ward together with Tiwi Ward are the most affected in Matuga division as far as violent extremism is concerned. Majority of the youth in these wards remain unemployed and idle resulting into exposure to drugs abuse and radicalisation. It is my hope that the youth will take advantage of the three months cost-free training in ICT and business skills to help them exploit available economic opportunities in government and the private sector.

The Tujengane Tuinuane initiative is a call to all stakeholders beginning from family members, neighbours, friends, government, the private sector and all other development stakeholders to do the very best they can to strengthen youth resilience against push and pull factors of violent extremism through productive engagement of our youth. It therefore starts with the youth themselves who need to appreciate the effort made.

Now that a good number of our youth own registered businesses and many more continue to register and apply for tender businesses, I challenge government institutions and the private sector to join the Tujengane Tuinuane local youth empowerment initiative to avail to our youth all the support they may need to improve their economic wellbeing and strengthen their ability to resist extreme ideologies and violent groups.

Once again I take this opportunity to thank Ummah Initiative Group and USAID Kenya for this great initiative. I am happy to be part of the program team and I promise to offer my best support so that together we can achieve the desired results.

Chair Board of Management

Ummah Initiative Group
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I want to start by acknowledging and appreciating the fact that this far we have come because of God’s guidance and mercies. May I thank most sincerely the UIG team of board members for offering the support needed to reach where we are today. Very special and sincere appreciation goes to the UIG executive director for working tirelessly to ensure the organization is headed in the right direction towards its vision and mission.

The reason as to why we have managed to achieve significant milestones in community development is because many good actors have come out to support our noble cause. Let me start by thanking the County Government of Kwale which is our number one development stakeholder without whose support not much could be achieved. Though the Kwale Biashara Center is part of the County Government of Kwale there is still need to thank it separately considering its special relationship to this program especially the role it plays in the youth business plan competition.

So much support has also been extended to us by the office of the Kwale County commissioner and other national government institutions. For over six years now we have enjoyed quality support from the Kenya School of Government Matuga. Our first free ICT and business training program for local youth was fully supported by Kenya School of Government Matuga in 2013.
From the private sector the most outstanding partner who has stood with us and supported us year in year out is Base Titanium. Since 2013 when we started our collaboration with Base Titanium we have never stopped to support local students in colleges and Universities through educational tours, internship placements and scholarships. The proposed Ummah Resource Center which both Base Titanium and the County Government of Kwale have committed to support is a very key component of the Tujengane Tuinuane youth empowerment initiative and it is my hope and prayer that this facility should be up and running latest by June 2018. The Ummah Resource Center is a major step towards program sustainability coming with enormous opportunities for cost effective youth empowerment programs as well as opportunities for generating requisite income to sustain UIG community programs. We still need more donors to help us establish the Ummah Resource Center and I take this opportunity to kindly appeal to both local and international development stakeholders to join us so together we can complete this noble dream and help our youth grow into productive members of the society who will put more effort in nation building and steer clear of extremist ideas and violence.
Youth action for open governance and accountability was started with the support of Plan International through the EU Devolution funding. We acknowledge and appreciate the support. Thanks to UNDP Amkeni Wakenya, the YAOGA program was further boosted leading to the establishment of the Kwale youth council. The youth council plays a key leadership role to facilitate youth engagements with the Kwale County executive and Kwale County Assembly. The Tujengane Tuinuane youth empowerment program is building on the gains achieved and through the portal and app platforms expanding the YAOGA program to cover the six coastal counties. We remain optimistic that more development partners will join us to support constructive civic engagement between county governments and local youth that should result to improved services and economic wellbeing of the youth. If attained, this should strengthen the ability of our youth to resist the allure to join extremist ideologies and radical groups.

As we look forward to the official launch of the Tujengane Tuinuane youth empowerment program which includes the web portal and app, on behalf of the board of management, on behalf of the UIG membership and on my own behalf, I must thank USAID Kenya for enhancing the ability of UIG to deliver quality programs for the benefit of the local youth. The most important component of the USAID support to UIG is the capacity building aspect which Act! (Act, Change Transform) is doing an excellent job. The Tujengane Tuinuane youth web portal and app is a sustainable community development infrastructure that USAID Kenya has funded which if properly and adequately used and maintained it has the potential of supporting positive transformation of our youth for very many years to come. On behalf of the Kwale community thank you USAID Kenya.
I feel proud to serve as the chair of the UIG board of management and hereby give my commitment to fully support the Tujengane Tuinuane youth empowerment initiative until we have achieved the success that we so much desire for our youth and the community at large.

Many thanks to all of us and long live Ummah Initiative Group and the Tujengane Tuinuane youth empowerment dream initiative!

Sub County Administrator, Matuga

County Government of Kwale
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On behalf of Matuga Sub County residents, the county government of Kwale and on my own behalf, I want to take thank UIG and USAID Kenya for introducing this noble community development initiative meant to empower our local youth economically and build youth resilience against extremist ideologies and violent extremism.

Matuga sub county youth have suffered significantly due to cases of violent extremism as witnessed during the Kaya Bombo clashes, MRC and even al Shabaab. To a large extent this has been contributed by vulnerability of our youth as a result of economic hardships. Now that we have a devolved county government and a growing rich mining sector in addition to many other economic sectors, there is greater need to work together to create hope among our youth who still feel marginalized and excluded from main stream development. That feeling of exclusion and marginalization is the weak link that extremists use to convince our youth to join radical groups for violent activities.

I am impressed by the Tujengane Tuinuane initiative for multi stakeholder engagement for the best interest of our youth. Notably I appreciate the free training on ICT and business skills and further support to our youth to register businesses and comply with relevant requirements for profitable business opportunities within government and the private sector. The idea to support our sports and talent groups to make maximum use of available sports and talent development facilities for economic empowerment and CVE discussions and actions is again very commendable. I have no doubt we are on the right track and sooner than later we could witness tremendous achievements amongst our youth if each one of us play their roles as expected by the program.

The portal and app platform provides numerous opportunities for constructive engagement between the youth and county government officers. As we prepare to do a new county integrated development plan, it will be very interesting to see how our youth use the portal forum to contribute their views on how best the county government should plan to support youth economic empowerment in the next five years. This room for constructive engagement with our youth has been expanded to cover other topics of interest that are key to economic empowerment of our youth and I look forward to the discussions so we can make government services more youth friendly and economically viable.

There are 5 wards in Matuga Sub County including Waa Ng’ombeni ward, Tiwi ward, Tsimba Golini ward, Kubo South ward and Mkongani ward. It is my hope that the benefits of this program will be felt in all the 5 wards in Matuga Sub County. Let us embrace the spirit of ‘Tujengane Tuinuane’ for the development of our youth and county at large!

Assistant County Commissioner, Diani Division

Kwale County
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My name is Cecilia Kathure Mutwiri, Assistant County Commissioner of Diani Division, Kwale County – Coast Region. I want to personally show my appreciation to the Tujengane Tuinuane Skills for Business and CVE (Countering Violent Extremism) Program for the youth for the good work they are doing in my County. Diani Division is beautiful place with very rich economic potential, with tourism topping the list as the best economic venture for the residents. Fishing is also another sector that the residents can utilize to make ends meet. Diani attracts people from all backgrounds, all ages, culture, religion, race and tribe from all over Kenya and outside the country as well.

However Diani Division also faces challenges such as insecurity and unemployment and the youths are the most affected. They therefore involve themselves in all kinds of things to try and improve their social and economic wellbeing, which tends to push them into unwanted groups and behaviors to feel important and accommodated in the nation building agenda. Only that some do so blindly and get lured into extremist groups with the promise of a better life and get brainwashed and made to make acts of violence that cause harm to others, especially with bitterness due to the problems they think are unsolvable. Drug abuse is another thing that most have found themselves engaged in to help lighten their worlds – which of course doesn’t.

The youth and even adults get recruited into terrorists’ groups and these groups have tried to make the war on religious basis, where to be honest attacks on our Churches have been witnessed; sadly. The extremists have no boundaries as they have acquired crude weapons which they use to cause harm and even death to others in the neighborhood and to the Police Officers, killing two in a recent attack and taking away their firearms. These occurrences leave other residents in fear and to some who actually live under such harmful and dangerous groups are not willing to cooperate with law enforcers and security personnel in the division to aid in investigations and provide solutions to the deep-rooted vices that happen under our noses. Which also include – prostitution, pornography, illegal gambling, drug trafficking. We encourage the residents to come out and fight these issues that pull us back in terms of development.

The Tujengane Tuinuane Skills for Business and CVE Program for youth in my Division is very important. It helps the youths to engage themselves in meaningful and progressive activities that build and empower them to make a positive change on themselves, their families and the community at large. They are able to realize their talents, their strengths and pull their efforts together for the benefit of all. The Program is creating hope for the youth through diverse sector engagements including ICT, sports, and general business support for youth economic empowerment, among others. This basically keeps them busy thereby reducing negative outcomes that results out of feeling hopeless and frustrated in life and not having anything meaningful to do. I believe and we in the Division Administration believe that the Program should be welcomed and appreciated by everyone to help boost their lives, improve security and create a platform for sustainable, progressive growth. I also want to pass my gratitude to the United States Agency for International Development USAID and Ummah Initiative Group for the good work they are doing and assure them that we are ready to work with them to help them reach more and more people in the region and countywide, and help prevent spread of negative extremism. Ummah Initiative through the Tujengane Tuinuane initiative gives encouragement to the youth in my division and Coast at large. It also gives the youth purpose and brings resources closer to them to aid them change and uplift their living standard and earn income through legal and acceptable sources in the community.

My message to the Youth is that do not worry and feel discouraged that there is no hope in your future and therefore become careless about your future because you are the leaders of tomorrow, and please remember that Kenya is waiting for you. Always be true to yourself, parents, religion, community and nation and remember that hard work pays and that short-cuts in life never solves the problems and challenges, they only accumulate them. The youth please remember that the Government is willing and ready to work with you either directly or indirectly through governmental and non-governmental groups and agencies to create a better life for you. Hard work, positive ambition and honesty matter in this journey.

Thank You.

Youth Skills for Business & CVE Application