After taking the ReachUp! program over one year ago, about 20 participants from Sosiot in Eldoret are still held together by the desire to make use of information obtained from the program to develop socially and economically. Under the coaching of their then facilitator, Ben Maiyo, the participants met to strengthen their youth group by forming a merry go round.
On Sunday 27th May, 2012 about 20 individuals converged for a meeting at St. Francis Catholic Church in Sosiot village, Eldoret Kenya. These individuals had one unifying factor; they are all former ReachUp! participants who took the program in April/May 2011. After their training, the participants had formed a youth group currently registered with the Ministry of Gender and Social Services; Koibeiyot Xavier Youth Group and were seeking to take their association a step further by forming a merry go round. They were joined by another 20 individuals who had a similar interest and recognized the benefits of forming a youth group.
Under the guidance of their former DOT facilitator Ben Maiyo, the group successfully managed to agree on modalities of forming a merry go round with 16 individuals registering the same day. The first agenda of the new group was to assist one of the members, Elizabeth Rop to upgrade her salon at Chepkanga center in Eldoret. With the other participants chipping in, they raised funds to enable her buy a dryer and a blow-dryer. Ben, currently DOT Field Officer in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation, took the opportunity to stress on the importance of ReachUp! and encouraged those who are yet to participate to register at the nearby Sergoek Youth Polytechnic.
Present was the group's mentor, David Keitany from National Bank of Kenya, Faith Rop from AMPATH, the area Forest Officer Mr. Joseph Aiyabey and Peter Buluma from Junior Achievement who emphasized on the importance of youths starting their businesses. Mr. Keitany encouraged the group to form a SACCO (Savings and Credit Corporative Society) and to be committed to the group's activity to enhance sustainability. He also took notice of the ReachUp! bond that had created a family of sorts and encouraged others to join the program to benefit from the entrepreneurial training.
To mark the event, the group planted 500 tree seedlings and set a target of 1000 tree seedlings to be planted by August 2012. This was also done in-part, to celebrate the world Environmental day recognized on the 5th of June every year. The Forest Officer Mr. Aiyabey, was impressed by the initiative and promised to support activities of the group.
The participants were indeed grateful for the opportunities that DOT has created for them; the coaching and the networking that has enabled them achieve various goals in life. They were also impressed with the dedication of the team and encouraged those still facilitating to continue with the commitment to community empowerment.
10 Comments
Am glad that this group of participants who last year I met when they had just finalised there ReachUp! sessions have stuck together for the common good of seeing eachone of them succeed. Its amazing how empowerment programs such as ReachUp! can transform our communities
Great post, Stephen! These sort of follow-up events always warrant mention because they demonstrate how the programs don't only exist within the time they are offered, but continue on in the initiatives that they sprout. I also enjoyed your writing: very clear and concise.
I agree with you Farr, follow-ups are good and should be encoraged as it demonstrates progress towards achieving the set goals, It is part of coaching and enhances sustainability of a program or project. It is the inspiration of people like Godfey and Alex that made the group stay united for a common goal; Economic development. I thank DOT Kenya for making this event successful
now the impact on the community can now be felt kudos to the group, despite the daily challanges faced it still streghthens us and makes us more strong.
It is good that they are still unified as unity is streghth
It is always a good thing if people come together and reason together and after some time we DOT interns come to realise that the sole aim of DOT programs is to bring people together for change to happen. Steve, I believe DOT will always be there for this group.
For real this is great! I have also been inspired by this action from the participants who have not turned their back on the program, follow ups are very important since they might give up along the way if they think that no one is there to help them get direction. We should not assume that these youth groups are stable enough immediately after their formation.
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