Empowering digital futures: Bridging the digital divide through skills training to employability.

Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development designed an innovative program targeted to provide accelerated learning opportunities for refugees in the Kakuma refugee camp. The program focus is on ICT, well-tailored to meet the expectations of the targeted population, eager to join the in-demand skills. Access to education both formal and informal remains a basic need of all human beings and refugees in Kakuma don’t form exceptions. This Bootcamp aims to address this need. As a comprehensive educational initiative aimed at providing students with in-demand tech skills, this Bootcamp will last for one year with different cohorts, four in total, and will be run by a highly qualified team from both refugee and host communities.

AdIYD2 Activities in images

As a solution, the Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development offers training in Kakuma refugee camp, to refugees between the ages of 14 to 55 years.

Our training are under the program name: Fit-for-Purpose which includes Digital and Soft skills training.

ICT Skills Training for Livelihood includes : 

• Basic and Advanced Computer Application
• Digital Citizenship

Soft Skills Training:

• Street Business Management
• Leadership, Peace and Conflict Resolution
• Peace and Conflict resolution Outreach Community

The program serves refugees based in the Kakuma refugee and Kalobeyei settlement camps. All gender, and between the ages of 14 to 55 years.

Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development is composed of a team of highly qualified trainers (undergraduates, and graduates )from Universities, colleges, and High schools.

With clear background in both digital and soft skills training.

Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development has been in operation since 2019 and has impacted more than 2400 refugees.

With limited access to financial support, the Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development has been unable to fully implement the program for a Rapid Impact.

Your financial support will help us to add learning kits, pay staff etc. We also expect during this collaboration, your team involved in MIT App Inventor may provide mentorship to our trainers as we use the MIT App Inventor platform in our Mobile App training.

This solution is unique in the context of refugee camps, especially in Kakuma, Dadaab, and Kalobeyei where refugees have limited access to national certificates. Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development facilitates refugees with access to national exam certificates from the Computer Society of Kenya. Access to national certificates facilitates refugees to validate their skills.

 We remain the only refugee-led organization providing refugee learners with access to online certified platforms such as Coursera where we have a personalized feature(AdIYD2 Google/Coursera Learning Program). Our solution is also innovative due to our strategies targeting to involve students with professional and certified online platforms such as Udemy.com, MIT App Inventor, Thunkable, etc.

With the experience of over 5 years empowering underrepresented communities and after several program evaluations, we come up with a Rapid Impact and Skill implementation strategy aiming at providing graduates with Start-Up Kits tools.

Our solution has already demonstrated the capacity to provide the solution to the problem. With a strong impact on the lives of refugees through skills sharing approach implemented by our graduates in the camps. Some of our graduates who have been repatriated back to their countries of origin are now implementing the skills in their respective countries.

As the foundation of our program success,the theory of change of Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development is designed as following: The organization has defined its theory of change from the inputs, activities, outputs, outcomes and impacts. The inputs: The organization avails learning center with all necessary equipment such as classrooms with computers, qualitfied trainers and other different facilities. The quality of resourc we possess. The activities: With the activities, the organization provides high quality training with contents and good learning environment. All in fair process of selecting candidates. The Outputs: the organization intends to increase the number of graduates, enhance digital and soft skills and improve both digital and soft skills among graduates. Outcomes:the organization intends to see the augmentation of job placement, transforming youths into a knowledge based economy driven by both Tech and soft skills. This is the bright benefits we need to achieve as organization. Develop self-confidence among trainees, open them to online learning platform. The Impact: AdIYD2 is expecting to see in the community the readiness job opportunities, generating income from gained skills, solving conflict, launching business, developing skills sharing channel, etc.

Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development assesses the progress by tracking participant's continued application of both digital and soft skills after learning period, their engagement in long learning journey.

The goal is to build a community self-independent, sefl-reliant capable to sustain their income from gained skills.

Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development used software and applications to provide learners with access to relevant skills through training.

We also use internet connectivity via virtual learning to link students with online certified learning platforms. We also use AI, MIT App Inventor, etc in our teaching system.

14 people are involved in this solution implementation:

10 full-time staff,

4 part-time

6 years

Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development is working under the principles of diversity. Evaluating in a culturally diverse environment, the organization is composed of people from different backgrounds living in the Kakuma refugee camp. We have Congolese, Sudanese, South Sudanese, and Somalian. Everyone plays a key role in the implementation and achievement of the project and its goals. 

AdIYD2 BUSINESS MODEL

GROWTH STRATEGY and PROJECT SUSTAINABILITY

As an organization, we have designed two commercial activities as sources of income to sustain the program and provide start-up support to our graduates.

• Bakery,
• Digital designing and Printing of Shirts, T-shirts, cups, etc.

Advocacy Initiative for Youth Development has one solo donor, the founder of Journey to Belonging.

We also text small fees as part of students' contribution. For those who are attending Basic Computer Application: Kenyan shillings 300 and for those who are in Advanced Computer Application: Kenyan shillings 500.

The organization has also developed a partnership strategy aiming to involve different stakeholders such as UNHCR, RELON-KENYA, Department of Refugees Services, Journey to Belonging, MIT, etc.