CONNECTING CAPACITIES WITH YOUTH BANNER ORGANIZATION

Meeting business advisor, Jane Mwaura, from Youth Banner this morning was refreshing. Youth Banner run Beeps (Banner Economic Empowerment Program) for the youth within 8 project areas in the country. In these sessions, Youth Banner deploys a curriculum they had co-developed with Kenyatta University. The 6 months program targets 18 to 35 year old youth of both gender with Entrepreneurship knowledge. Part of the program; include activities such as peer to peer business visits, mentorship and community service.

The organization connects capacities with Kiva.org, Women Share Wisdom organization, Rafiki MFI and Housing finance Company. These connections enrich Beeps by providing needed resources and opportunities for promising graduates. The resources are varied but sometimes are capital, loan facilities or annual training opportunities. Each year the organization graduates averagely 1500 pool of students at their pass out parade. During the graduations, successful candidates are awarded certificates and other awards. Beep activities are happening all over from Nairobi, Ngoliba in Thika, Kisumu, Mbita, Homabay, and Kangengi.

YouthCaffe is interested in having Youth Banner captain its entrepreneurship program. This was the first of the many conversations to come. If a deal is sealed then YouthCaffe beneficiaries will be able to tap into the resources provided by Youth Banner before the end of the year. Apart from Beeps, Youth Banner also offer ATG (Amka Tujiinue Group) program. This is an all women exclusive program for women to engage in crocheting and beadwork. The organization runs a department called “PrimeRose” that focuses on creating markets for the end products from ATG.

SELF AWARENESS

Self awareness is the capacity and ability to recognize oneself as an individual separate from the environment and other individuals. It is not to be confused with consciousness.

Consciousness is a term given to being aware of one’s environment and body and lifestyle. Self awareness is the recognition of that awareness.

People who lack self awareness find themselves in the habits of using vulgar language. They have difficulty praising the great work others do, their ego drives their actions, they get upset when someone questions what they do. They almost exclusively make decisions based on their own perspective and needs. Such people usually do not have a sense of how their actions affect others.

It is important for people to be self aware because it helps us have empathy; this is the ability to see when we are wrong or when we have made mistakes. It allows us to see other people’s perspectives and be empathetic to their situations or their feelings .Self awareness gives us humility, admission and likability.Most importantly, self awareness helps us see the man in the mirror-this is when we are able to acknowledge our flaws, make positive change to improve up on them. Knowing is half the battle…and if you can admit to the qualities that are less than stellar about yourself… You can change them or improve upon them.

We can help ourselves become self aware by first learning to look at ourselves objectively. This helps us study and criticize our decisions.Second, Writing a manifesto, it is important to have own goals, alternatively a manifesto is a great way to push yourself into figuring out what you want.Thirdly, Keeping a journal, makes you more aware of what you are doing. Lastly, perform a self review which will help see ourselves in someone else’s perspective and gain a little insight into ourselves.

Self awareness is important to all young people and individuals.

THE GLOBAL GOALS FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Work begins now! No I don’t think so. Work must continue. This is a timely opportunity for YouthCaffe, coming at a time when there is increased clamor for more girls to be educated in technology courses like coding. As more and more girls get competent skills, more and more of them start competing favorable for limited job opportunities. 

Lifted from Wikipedia pages, “ On 25 September 2015, the 193 countries of the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Development Agenda titled Transforming our world'.'
This included the following goals:

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote life long learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development  ” 

We as YouthCaffe remain ready to contribute to goals 4, 5, 8 and 16. Vocational education offered by youthcaffe is quite hands- on allowing youth to successfully transit from class to job environment effortlessly.As it is,we are positioned to have more girls behind machines coding: Incubation of girls’ only web and app developers.In the long run this will build girl child capacity for sustainable livelihood. 

Finally, Peace and community cohesion is key if we want to halt violent extremism and radicalization of youth. This begins at that moment when we analyze the root causes,supporting factors and problem manifestation. 

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.