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Solar Powered Resource Centers

Challenges Entered: 

Poor or lack of communication has led to marginalization in societies. This has forced many people to live in extreme poverty. Information is therefore an important vehicle to prosperity and health. When people are isolated such that they cannot access information on how to improve their lives they only live for today and barely make any effort to improve themselves. To eradicate poverty and all other social injustices people must have home grown policy reforms. At Maidan we are working one step at a time to ensure that our target beneficiaries have access to the information they need in order to improve their lives. We strongly believe in the potential and abilitites of people to pull themselves out of poverty. We work to facilitate integration of community knowledge, appropriate technology, access to information and funds, and advocate for enabling policies to ensure sustainable development.  Since development is a process of improving the quality of all human life which includes living standards, self esteem and increasing the freedom of choices, we are building strategic relationships with local and international like minded organizations and individuals to help break the vicious cycle of poverty enslaving many Kenyans and beyond.

The objective of the resource centers will be
Ø To promote the use of Information Communications Technology and computers for learning and creative self-expression in activities like web design, movie making, photography, graphic arts and journalism.
Ø To involve youth and children in film training and production.
Ø To encourage use of drama and video production on educational, health and religious matters.
Ø To expose the  youth and children to the power of story telling in social transformation and develop their individual strengths to take active roles in decision making by expressing their own ideas.
Ø To impart in children and youth media skills in order to fully participate in matters of national public interest.
Ø To help children and youth to discover and develop their God given creativity and talents.
Ø To provide and nurture a forum for the youth and children to discover and exploit their God given creativity and talent in an encouraging atmosphere.
Ø To facilitate an interactive process between Kids and Youth in Kenya with their counter parts abroad for learning and fostering good relations and exchange of culture and ideas through online forums ,Video-conference calls, Email or Personal visitations.
Ø To help children and youth to discover their own potential and follow it seizing their challenges and turning them into opportunities for growth.
Ø To give kids and youth from over-crowded places, a space and opportunities  in sports and creative games for their self-esteem, a more active mind and improved mental health.
Ø To advocate and rise awareness for the rights of children and the youth especially in regards to education, recreation and job opportunities.
Ø To provide opportunities and enable young people create Jobs by taking initiatives to use their creativity and talents to create and produce products of their own designs.

Milestones set:
Ø 500 children to be reached with training and mentoring and hence instill tolerance, good companionship  interaction skills and team work spirit.
Ø 200 Youths to be trained and mentored in film and media production.
Ø 100 short films to be produced as media products as a result of learnt skills and practice opportunities.
Ø 15 Kids clubs to be established.
 

Project Details
Project Assessment
Financial support: 
Project has financial support
Sustainability Model: 
Maidan Africa's efforts in the marginalized communities are being funded through grants and donations from individuals and institutions. Through training  offered by Maidan Africa,  communities have been able to produce their own informal teachers. Through the information and training provided communities have been able to better practice organic farming and rear animals for economic purposes. Thus communities have been agents of their own social transformation enabling sustainable development. The training being provided to children and youth without a formal education will equip them with the ability to use media, art and music to advocate for social change thus playing an active role in the development of the community. They will learn filming and use their talents in music and sport and art. Through the resource center they will be able to showcase their work in the virtual world and lobby for change and support through the power of the internet where they will be able to meet with children and youth from other countries to share their experiences and develop solutions for their own communities. There will beØ Music Bands Performances proceedings and album sales,Ø Video and Film work returns,Ø Productions and editing services to the publicØ Painting and Art Work service charges,Ø Electrical repair work payments,Ø Craft and basket work product sales,Ø Tailoring products sales,Ø Bakery and cookery classes
Expertise needed: 
Policy/Program Expertise: <p><font color="#555555">Maidan Africa is committed towards teaching and training the youth and equipping them with tools that will enable them to be active participants in bringing social change in their own communities. Our main need is acquiring physical facilities in different locations that can be used as resource centers. The resource centers will serve as training centers, research centers, educational centers for the marginalized. We will need a government liaison who will advocate  for government policies that provide an enabling environment for the youth to be able to document their lives and their communities and their thoughts through films and other forms of communication so as to help in social transformation.   The liaison will help streamline efforts of both parties in addressing the plights of various communities. Hence  empowering the youth in using their gifts and talents as a platform for social change.  </font></p>
Marketing/Media Expertise: The youth will be trained on creating a series of personal videos about their lives and producing films that would foster social change. Hence the need for more books on media, development and human rights, the need for solar powered laptops, solar powered PDAs and servers,  macintosh  computers for publishing and editing,  tv sets, video players, dvd players, projectors, mobile phones and GPS systems, solar panels, dv cam cameras, mini dv cameras, digital still photo cameras,  microphones and sound equipment, edit equipments, lighting equipments,
Technical Expertise: <p><font color="#555555">In our efforts Maiden Africa will need assistance especially in the remote regions in setting up and maintenance  of solar powered  systems to be used  at the  resource centers. </font></p>
Project goals: 
2005 - Helped build three schools one in Lamu, one in Tana River, and another in Witu areas in Kenya using locally available material and local manpower.2005 -  During the Kenyan drought spell in  July, August, and September Maidan Africa provided food worth $ 17,000 to Tana river and Lamu residents. 2006 - Maidan Africa provided 150 orphans in nairobi, Kenya,  training in Filming and music production. 2007 - Maidan Africa mobilized  big companies in Kenya  for  a hospital visitation to Kenyatta National Hospital Cancer ward where the companies&#39; representatives took loads of gifts and facilitated a screening process that would enable the hospital management to identify  needy cases and offer free medical treatment. 2007 - Maidan Africa travelled to Rwanda to film a documentary on Rwanda&#39;s genocide that would serve as an educational tool to foster peace in communities and social justice. 2007- Maidan Africa organized a long road educational trip from Nairobi, Kenya to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to document on pastoral life and seek to find a solution to their never ending pastoral land conflicts. 2008 - Maidan Africa visited  hard hit areas  after Kenya&#39;s election violence to facilitate conflict resolution. 2008 - Maidan Africa facilitated registration of small community organisations.                      
Identified Obstacles: 
Renting halls to serve as resource centers has been a problem, hence the need to own the land and the building that serves as a resource center.

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