UWEZO LIFESKILLS is a community based organization registered with the Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social services under the Department of Culture. The group based in and operating mainly in Eastlands seeks to build the capacity of the children and youth and caregivers in the area by way of its members sharing their skills, knowledge and expertise. The general idea behind the formation
of UWEZO which is a Swahili word meaning “ability” was for the members all of whom were born and raised in Eastland to share their skills with their less fortunate brothers and sisters in an effort to raise them up to be respectable members of society and in so doing build the Eastlands community which more often than not is reported in the media as the hub of crime in Nairobi. The Eastlands of Nairobi though endowed with an abundance of both artistic and other talents, is best known outside for the other negative activities which include crime and rising cases of HIV and AIDS. The positive side is rarely known to the outside world thereby leaving the children and youth growing up feeling stigmatized and marked as people with little or nothing to contribute to the outside world unless they can prove otherwise. This kind of situation has left those who don’t succeed through the academics to be disillusioned with life and in so doing get entangled in the web of crime or idleness rife in the area forgetting the talents and skills that they do have within them. Whereas the children can be well served through the Kids clubs initiated within the various estates; as they grow older their needs change and the estate structures are not well equipped to meet these emerging needs which have now moved from looking for a space to play and have fun to catering for their basic needs. With limited options available the girls are easily lured into prostitution, while the boys are easily engaged into touting or petty crime to make end meet; all with adverse effects. The complexity of these problems call for community based multi-sectoral responses which holistically meets the needs of the children and youth. Having grown and lived in Eastlands, UWEZO LIFESKILLS members observed this emerging trend and decided to stop complaining about the darkness but to light a candle of empowerment through sharing of skills and knowledge. The sharing of skills and knowledge at UWEZO LIFESKILLS is aimed at building RESILIENT Children, EMPOWERED and ENGAGED Youth, ENLIGHTENED Caregivers with the goal of having STRONG Communities. The following programs are run at UWEZO LIFESKILLS;
1. Community Kids Clubs for children
2. Youth Lifeskills Program
3. Improved Livelihood for Caregivers
4. Trips with Incentives in the Community.
5. Consultancies
Through these programs the following cross cutting issues are dealt with in a participatory manner
-HIV and AIDS Prevention
-Life Skills Development
-Leadership and Teambuilding
-Drugs and substance abuse
