Kampabits exists to positively change the lives of vulnerable youth in Uganda by improving their access to productive employment as well as their ability to cope with their social environment through creativity and innovation.
We work with several community based organizations to identify and recruit out of skill youth. We train for a year in ICT skills, entrepreneurship, Sexual reproductive health rights and life skill/work related and social etiquette. Trained youth are sent to our business partners to work as interns for 3 months while developing skills learnt. We lobby business partners to provide employment to the interns.
The concept is a ‘chip-off’ the concept used by Nairobits since 1999. Nairobits has been implementing the project targeting vulnerable unemployed youth from the slums in the city of Nairobi (Kenya).
With support of Butterflyworks, Nairobits and Terre Des Hommes, the concept was turned into a project and implemented in Kampala (Uganda) in 2010. The project has been implemented by Kampabits since. The organization derives its name it’s from the city where it exists i.e. Kampala-Kampa, and Bits-smallest unit in computing hence the name Kampabits.
Globally, youth make up 25% of the global working age population, but account for 43.7% of the unemployed. This means that every other jobless person in the world is between the ages of 15-24 years (UN-Habitat, 2015).
Uganda has a high population growth rate and over 80% of its population is below the age 25. In 2013, an estimated 63% of Ugandan youths aged 15-30 years were reported unemployed.
Research by the International Labor Organization (ILO) shows a strong correlation between youth unemployment and social exclusion, and suggests that this may lead to political and social instability, and possibly violence.
Objectives.
-To improve the prospects of formal employment for youth from informal settlements.
-To increase the prospects of self-employment on the part of youth from informal settlements.
-To improve the capacity of youth from informal settlements to deal with those social factors that affect the quality of their lives.
-To assure relevance, effectiveness, learning, replication and innovation in Kampabits.
Skills training, employer liaison and advocacy with businesses, partnership with community based organizations to identify and recruit vulnerable youth.
We have 80 beneficiary enrolled for 2013/14 skills empowerment training. Following activities constitute learning process for the beneficiary.
-Class room sessions; Introduction to basic ICT concepts, web design, web development, graphics and animation.
-Life skills training; conducted in class, Focused group discussions, sports activities.
-Free voluntary HIV/AIDS counseling and testing (At least 3 times a year).
-Mentoring visits to organizations, (e.g. Thought works May 2015).
-Mentoring by business owners from the community. Business owners are invited to share their experiences of starting and running their establishments.
-Partnering with Community based organizations is an effective way of identifying potential beneficiary if beneficiary inclusion parameter are well known.
-Having strong personal relations (project-businesses) can facilitate the process of advocating for the businesses to employ and take up beneficiary as interns.
-Limited access to finance/credit still hinders the ability of empowered beneficiary to start up their own businesses.
-Short term empowerment projects that teach very specific skills may equip vulnerable youth with more competence and hands on experience than University graduates.
-ICT based interventions are capital intensive and expensive because of high cost of equipment, internet, soft wares.
-Using open source software and applications can significantly reduce costs and provide alternative platforms for learning to beneficiary.