Center of Worth Simama Pilot

Our Mission: Strategy: WomenOne is a non-profit organization that focuses The 2 primary offerings of the CoW will include: (1) on creating positive change in the lives of women and after-school tutoring and counseling opportunities, and girls globally through access to quality education. (2) life-skills and vocational education modules delivered We work with institutions and partner organizations to students during their academic breaks. towards our mission to provide women and girls globally faced with extreme poverty, cultural barriers Why focus on breaks? and humanitarian emergencies access to quality Two high-risk populations, street kids and adolescent education. We do this through research, advocacy girls, need extra supports to keep them on-track for and innovative programming. personal and professional empowerment. Kenyan schools are unable to meet these needs with their limited Program Overview: resources. In non-school hours and during the 3 months of mandatory breaks in the Kenyan academic calendar, WomenOne will pilot a 14-month center-based these students become particularly vulnerable. They program to support the education and empowerment have no safe space where they can study and they of approximately 150 at-risk adolescent girls in lack positive peer or adult influences. They become Nanyuki, . This center will be called the Center particularly susceptible to early pregnancy, forced of Worth (CoW), the development of which will be marriage, substance abuse and illegal activity. informed by previous WomenOne research and contextualized with input from local partners. Implementing Partner: Why Nanyuki, Kenya? The Simama Project is a Kenyan community-based Nanyuki (population 49,233 in 2009) is in Laikipia organization with U.S. non-profit status. It was founded County, Kenya, northwest of . in 2010 by Matt Orcutt (U.S.) to invest in street kids and Approximately 50% of residents have their families. The Simama Project began when Matt never attended secondary school. Many out-of-school met Alfred Maina, a 12 year-old street kid. Matt children beg on the streets of the 3 Nanyuki slums. sponsored Alfred so that he could return to school. Nanyuki is 3 hours north of on excellent roads, Within two quarters, Alfred became the number one with a large ex-pat community. student in the district. Since then, the Simama Project has emerged through the shared work and efforts of Alfred, Matt and the subsequent students who have been empowered by the project. In 2016, Simama will sponsor approximately 90 students, mainly girls, who would otherwise be out of school.