CYEC Kenya

The Children and Youth Empowerment Centre is conceived as a convergence point for people of different backgrounds to share experience, debate, research, experiment and consolidate knowledge concerning the empowerment of young people.

The CYEC is located in Nyeri, Kenya and is designed to help former street children in Kenya. Currently they are providing residential care for about 160children and approximately 60 at an affiliated drop in center.  The program that they have developed is designed for education and empowerment of the youth, thereby encouraging them to imagine a better future and then create the steps for achievement of that goal.  Program exit is a priority for them (unemployment rate in Kenya is 40%).

In order to achieve this, CYEC in collaboration with Penn State University, is developing a strategy to be self-reliant and independent even when there are no employment.  Therefore, they are developing strategies that include entrepreneurial activities through the development of eco-villages where they can live, work and further their skills.

In 2009, in conjunction with Penn State U students, CYEC built prototypes of affordable technologies in sustainable agriculture, water harvesting systems, renewable energy generation and housing construction.  Specifically, they built a green, an irrigation system, a bicycle powered electricity generator, a sand filter to purify and re-use waste water and a small scale bio-diesel plant.  These prototypes are to be used as demonstration systems for full scale construction of the first Eco-Village tobe located in the Rift Valley.

PSU appears to have invested a great deal of time with CYEC including creating their web-site (was a project for a class), and the engineering school for the development of sustainable solutions & equipment in their Eco-Village.  Project is essentially a collaborative effect between CYEC, Penn State,

http://www.cyec.net