EDC Kenya

Entrepreneurship + Digital Livelihoods + Creative Arts

Socio-economic Empowerment of Women Refugees in Kenya

About the Project

This project will seek to address three challenges – women’s access to livelihoods and entrepreneurship opportunities, opportunities to commercialize artistic talents, and overcoming obstacles posed by Covid-19. It will do so by integrating digital entrepreneurship components in skills development courses and utilize online e-commerce marketplaces to showcase talents in creative arts. A group of female entrepreneurs will establish online businesses using digital tools, strategies, and practices and create peer-to-peer business relationships with female artisans in their communities. Within one project, these concepts will target future female business owners and under-utilized artistic talents of refugees to overcome the barriers that prevent them from self-employment while creating an empowering and technologically forward space. This project will advance gender equality by providing women with the ability to be self-sufficient, independent of geographic restrictions. It will increase the number of women entrepreneurs from the refugee community and allow the refugee community to monetize their artistic talent through online business practices.

Implementation Partner: CAP Youth Empowerment Institute (CAPYEI)

CAP Youth Empowerment Institute (CAPYEI) is a nongovernment organization created in 2011 that is committed to training out-of -school youth in life skills, and in relevant labour market and entrepreneurial skills in hospitality, hairdressing, automobile repair and maintenance, construction, textiles, IT services and more. It does this through the Basic Employability Skills Training (BEST) model, a flexible approach that has successfully trained and supported youth (18 to 35) in many contexts of vulnerability.

Humber College Support