Project Heshima.
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Beneficiaries
What is Project Heshima?
Project Heshima is an initiative supported by East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) and implemented by Africa Initiative for Rural Development (AiRD).
The project seeks to address the problem of illicit brews production and consumption among the target population innovatively using enterprise development and behavior change communication approaches. The main objective of Project Heshima is to create opportunities for the Youth through entrepreneurship, vocational skills training and achieve behavior change with respect to responsible drinking.
Addressing the problem of illicit brews calls for understanding of the causes and embracing innovative approaches – The Project Heshima approach
Results
Employing the innovative integrated approaches has enabled Project Heshima to achieve the following results:
- 3,800 youth and women reached with information on social -economic impact of illicit brews and economic opportunities
- Skills development for 527 youth on Technical Vocational skills and 959 trained on entrepreneurship; totaling to 1,486 youth (Female 852, Male 634) benefiting from the project in the last 12 months.
- 423 youth have secured gainful employment in related skill sectors
- 725 youth have begun own enterprises employing an additional 126 people
- All the beneficiaries underwent mentorship for sustained success
- Project has established healthy working relations with county and national governments, youth service organizations, the communities and potential employers. When Youth are connected, they thrive!
Next Phase
The pilot phase of the project was a success. Moving forward, the project will seek to empower more youth across the 10 counties. The immediate plan is to reach out to an additional 1,500 youth and women in the next 12 months; December 2019 to November 2020. In the long run, the project desires to set up centers of excellence in skills development across the counties and train over 10,000 youth by 2025.
