Path Youth is a registered community-based Organization (CBO) operating in Mombasa County, Kenya, with the long-term goal of expanding its work into the greater coastal region. This CBO was founded by a group of friends living in Likoni, Kenya, who, due to difficult circumstances, dropped out of school earlier than anticipated. Refusing to let circumstances dictate their futures, like it does many others, they decided to take control of their own education. This led to the creation of Path Youth, which was registered as a youth group first (2019) and then as a CBO in 2022, to help transform the lives of other eager learners. Since then, Path Youth has been at the forefront of supporting children and adolescents in and outside of school, equipping them with the knowledge and tools necessary to become a sustainable, empowered, and informed generation. Path Youth is also a member of the Lightup Impact community — an online community of early-stage, locally-led, non-profit Organizations in gender and health in East Africa.
Thematic pillars
Education, leadership, and environment make up the three thematic pillars of this Organization’s teachings:
Education: Focused on removing vulnerabilities hindering learners from access to quality education, they use peer mentors to foster education among learners.
Leadership: Through mentorship and coaching, Path Youth cultivates leadership skills among adolescents and young people both in and out of school with a critical focus on building a generation of thoughtful leaders.
Environment: Sharing knowledge about environmental issues affecting their communities helps generate new ideas about appropriate solutions and encourages learners to take action e.g. recycling waste.
With these three pillars in place and the right tools at hand, a prosperous generation can emerge to create change in and impact their communities regardless of age, gender, or ethnicity.
How does Path Youth work?
To begin with, the sub-county director of education grants permission to Path Youth to enroll and educate learners. This process also includes a thorough evaluation of the educational programs and the selection of directors from the sub-county’s Teachers Service Commission (TSC) to lead the programs. Lastly, learners need to provide parental consent before starting at Path Youth.
Which problems are Path Youth trying to solve?
The retention of students in school until completion is a significant obstacle and is often challenged by, for example, struggles with drug and substance abuse. Additionally, numeracy and literacy skills among learners are low, with most students unable to read and/or write at the level needed for their assigned grade. This problem is further worsened by a high student-to-teacher ratio, leaving fewer teachers to support an overabundance of willing and able students. Path Youth advocates for 100% enrollment/transition of students from primary to high school or from one level of education to the next – so that students are continuously progressing in their education.
Solutions Path Youth is implementing
Some of their key, ongoing strategies include using play-based activities and digital tools to support the building of literacy skills; and improved training of teachers and volunteers to optimize the learners’ educational experience.
Additionally, in alignment with their primary goals and objectives, Path Youth is organizing a five-day literacy and numeracy boot camp to boost necessary skills in these areas among young learners in Likoni using their innovative strategies.
Their efforts have also been strengthened through partnership projects – all of which are available for further reading on their online platforms: Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Key achievements since 2019
Since their foundation, the Path Youth leaders have been dedicated to creating the opportunities they wish they had when they were struggling with their circumstances and education. Here are a few of their key achievements:
- Supported 150 learners through various interventions, including mentorship, learning resources, and psychological and social support
- Higher rate of volunteer applications from teachers
- Improved targeting of learners through their partnership with Elimu Care, reaching learners from both the Likoni and Kisauni sub-county
- Successful school retention and transition of 100 learners with new knowledge and skills in navigating education and life in the 21st century
- Better community awareness about school retention and progression
More information about the boot camp
The boot camp will take place in Likoni and Kisauni Sub-County in Mombasa County within one year. Learners aged 9-14 years are eligible to enroll, and they hope to enroll up to 100 learners. Throughout the boot camp, learners will have the opportunity to:
- take part in engaging activities, including mentoring from professional coaches and 1-on-1 support from two volunteer teachers from the UK,
- learn new ways of reading,
- exercise their mathematic skills, and
- in addition to hard skills, learn soft skills like communication, critical thinking, self-awareness, and confidence.
Every learner will receive the necessary attention and support throughout the process – learners will be divided into groups of five, and each learner will have their grade-appropriate reading and mathematics abilities tested before commencing the boot camp.
Ten volunteer teachers will be trained at an earlier time before coming together in person in Likoni to exchange their thoughts on how to best approach the educational materials and activities. This teacher training and the foundational programs in literacy and numeracy will be conducted by Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN).
The learners and teachers will be asked to complete an assessment to inform and improve future boot camps.
Path Youth hopes this boot camp can serve as an essential pilot for a larger-scale project of this type to learn more about integrating play and digital tools into their educational programs.
Fundraising for the boot camp – how can YOU help?
A big part of their success relies on the kind donations of generous people from around the world. As such, Path Youth has launched a crowdfunding campaign to bring the boot camp to life. The campaign has already started and will end on 15 December 2022.
For the locals, you can also donate via this Mpesa Paybill number-891300 and Account Number-59517
Partnership announcement
Path Youth is glad to announce its strategic partnership with Elimu Care, Big Sister Talks Initiative, and Give for Good Initiative. These organizations believe that their partnership will support the delivery of the Literacy and Numeracy Initiative and uniquely position themselves to achieve both the set project goals as well as organizational development.
Do you wish to partner with Path Youth? Email them at youthpath254@gmail.com
Thank you for your interest in Path Youth and your support of the boot camp fundraising campaign!
“Together let’s build a generation of thoughtful leaders through education” – Path Youth Organization
