Rework the World is a global initiative that seeks to mobilize young people around the efforts that drive sustainability and create green jobs, from advancing solar energy East Africa and India, to water security and forest conservation in Brazil.
As we close in on the days to the Rework the World Summit, I would like to share a little about the Green Teams Vision that we are building.
But before that, It is intriguing and exciting to know that we have over 120 Nationalities of over 1500 delegates confirmed, half of which are under 35, and over 40 percent are women. This year, several hundreds are young entrepreneurs who are bringing their projects for us all to discuss. Their voices – and those of other young participants – add knowledge, perspectives, spirit and understanding of issues that is missing in the usual conference envwe will be introducing at the Summit. I am hoping that all of you can have a buy in so that we can co-create this together in your respective countries.
The World is facing a serious global Challenge that needs to be addressed urgently. There has been missing Links between solutions to the Global Problems and Realities to the Populations that are affected most. This is what the Green Teams Movement for Africa seeks to address. By investing in value chains that will address our youth unemployment situation in Africa, we will not only;
Better the Livelihoods to the suffering communities
Create Youth Entrepreneurship and Employment to the massive population
Create High Dividends for Investors in form of Funds from the business solutions model in the vision
The Green Teams Movement will simply initiate Local Business Solutions to resolving Global Ecological Problems. As you prepare to come to the Summit. I just wanted to take a moment to welcome you and invite you to join me as we roll out the new vision for buy in and ownership at local level and address various challenges that youth face together.
If all young people could come together and change the world? I have a strong conviction the Green Teams Vision is part of the Reworking the various dynamics that come with the complexities of addressing the systemic problem that has continually affected humanity. We all know the problems, we have had attempts to resolving the problems but the problems have not been resolved yet. This is our (youth) chance to give a stab at the problem using local solutions that will create opportunities for the youth through real empowerment building local communities. See you at the summit during the plenary session on Friday 4th June 2010 at 10.00Am at the Arena. Meanwhile joing the forces here:http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105737886129249&v=photos#!/group.php?gid=124947050868208&ref=ts
Dear Good People,
The Preparations for the Rework the World Summit are coming out very well. I look forward to meeting with innovators, thinkers, doers and financiers in taking the replications to the next level. Through YES Kenya, a multi-stakeholder network of young people and partners, we will be presenting a unique distribution model that investors and producers of innovative life changing products can use to have a market in the communities. After several intensive thinking sessions, we have developed a working model, piloted it and now it has a proven record that it is possible to use unemployed youth in communities, belonging to youth groups to create a distribution network across the country. This model is generic and can be used for any products. The aim is to make sure that we create opportunities for the thousands of youth members in the communities.
In reworking the world, this will be our contribution. We expect sustainable partnerships. The different components of the model include
1. Identification and enrolment of Youth groups
2. Screening and interviews with youth entrepreneurs
3. Development of Skills based training modules fitting various products for distribution
4. Identifying the markets and providing researched data.
5. Piloting of the projects with the replication models and Scaling up to wider geographic area.
We know that majority of the youth lack the start up capital to do business, we provide the skills and the social collateral and link up with Micro Finance Institutions willing to finance the project where the products need heavy investments.
Some of the products we are piloting currently are 1) Entrepreneurship 101 - Develop a High end Youth Business Training Curriculum
YES Kenya network is working to develop a locally designed entrepreneurship training curriculum. The curriculum will help create markets and unleash entrepreneurship in the grass root areas of Kenya by helping young people to identify business opportunities, prepare their business plans and compete for the best ideas.
YES Kenya has finalized a public survey to identify needs on entrepreneurship development among youth that will aid in developing the curriculum. The project will help young people identify business opportunities, prepare their business plans and compete for the best ideas through training, incubation, coaching and scale up. The program will integrate financial linkages for small scale risk capital, start up funding and innovative business development services for youth entrepreneurs to start their businesses. 2) Young Solar Entrepreneurship Project
YES Kenya is currently carrying out a Young Solar Entrepreneurship Project that seeks to extinguish 1 million Kerosene Lamps in Communities in Kenya. The first pilot was launched in March of 2010 in Kitui West Constituency where two schools have benefited from the Large Scale Community Solar Panels Installations. Over 1000 community members will benefit from its entrepreneurship component. Over 30 Young and Women Entrepreneurs are also geared to set up distribution networks through the Energy Kiosks that will be established in the community. The second pilot will be established in Western and Nyanza Provinces with replication expected in all the 8 provinces.
3. Eco Charcoal Production
Eco Charcoal Production from dry agricultural biomass, this charcoal is generally cheaper than wood charcoal and does not produce Carbon Dioxide and it is very safe and clean. The Markets are amazingly huge since trees are very expensive and it is illegal to log down trees. We are thus contributing to environmental safety.
There are more Pilots that will be rolled out soon once we find financing for them. This include the following;
1. Renewable Energy
• Creating sustainable alternative energy sources for agro-based industries.
• Designing and installing small power plants for institutions.
• Maintaining renewable energy systems and selling and installing small home solar systems/panels.
• Manufacturing solar lanterns for fishing activities during the night and renewable energy based ICTs to enhance access to income generation opportunities.
• Installing and maintaining solar-powered community facilities in rural areas.
2. On-farm and off-farm
• Exploring agriculture extension services for bringing micro credit to help set up small enterprises, provide business development services.
• Working with rural banks (where they exist), micro credit institutions and cooperatives, and youth groups to set up agricultural credit schemes to help young people acquire livestock, equipment and other productive assets of their own.
• Developing community based entrepreneurial/enterprise development-based education programs for young women in rural areas through vocational training, integrating elements of micro-entrepreneurship in the curriculum
3. Water and Sanitation
• Developing rain water-harvesting methods for communities to secure supplies and manage their own systems.
• Building and maintaining low cost toilets in the rural areas and tackle the sanitation needs of the people in the villages.
• Building and maintaining hand pumps to provide water supply to rural communities.
• Developing effective on-farm water technologies.
4. Information Communication Technology
• Developing “Youth in Business Centers” to help young men and women explore credit options and financial management programs and assist in marketing, product development and access to a wide array of books, manuals, videos and other materials related to starting and maintaining a small business.
• Developing web-based services such as website development assistance, e-marketing, and distance learning and on-line business development programs.
• Supporting agriculture though ICT tools.
Our Focus at the Rework the World is to profile the work of YES Kenya and its potential to create millions of jobs for youth in communities in East Africa and thus contributing towards creating the next 2 billion jobs for the world’s youth through the following itemized focus.
• Designing a concrete youth social entrepreneurship replication model for support and implementation in East Africa that will benefit thousands of youth through entrepreneurship trainings and skills transfer.
• We are targeting strategic linkages with networks which will lead to partnerships that will enhance YES Kenya’s idea generator for piloting and replication
Rework the World offers an amazing opportunity for us to meet and exchange ideas, present concrete plans and create lasting partnerships that will help us create sustainable livelihoods for the youth. We need your support and Help
…All good ideas are pipe-dreams if not backed by committed leadership and investment – we are seeking yours. We need your help to move the Youth Entrepreneurship Agenda to the next level to our shared passion for generating youth employment to the resources that can make it happen. We have identified promising sectors for employment generation; discovered quantifiable, innovative and practical solutions; and overseen the development of a national-wide youth network of over 8000 members that provide the perfect vehicle for unleashing the talents and energies of youth to create sustainable social enterprises. With your active involvement we can make a world of difference in the lives of thousands of youth in un reached communities in Africa.
We welcome you to meet us, talk with us and work together to change the World.
The Team
Country Coordinator – Emmanuel Dennis – emmanuel@yesweb.org, emmanuel@yeskenya.org
Programs Manager – Linda Wamalwa – lwamalwa@gmail.com, linda@yeskenya.org
Projects Outreach Manager – Rachel Wariko – rwariko@gmail.com, rachel@yeskenya.org
