The Zuia Project: Prevention is Better Than Cure

HOME

IMG_2585.JPG

THE ZUIA PROJECT
The Zuia Project, an initiative of Empowerment Works, Inc., seeks to empower the women and youth of Ugenya, Kenya. Zuia means 'prevention' in Swahili; the essence of this project is to prevent disease and poverty through an interdisciplinary educational approach. The Project offers vocational training for women, low-cost computer courses for youth and other technology services, health education, and leadership development and civic engagement programs for youth and women. The project'’s holistic approach to capacity building offers personal, economic, and health-related development opportunities to the rural community of Ugenya.

ABOUT

ABOUT THE ZUIA PROJECT
Mission Our mission is to empower the rural women and youth of Ugenya to take charge of their health and improve their leadership and entrepreneurship skills through capacity building. About the Zuia Project The Zuia Project was initiated by three Colorado College students, the Matibabu Foundation, Kenya, and active volunteers and citizens of the Ukwala community. Originally funded by the Kathryn Wasserman Davis 100 Projects for Peace Grant to teach tailoring skills to disenfranchised women and reproductive health education to youth, the project has since expanded to include several other programs. These include a budding Information Technology Center and the Women's Leadership Program (WLP). As of November, 2011, the Zuia Project became a subsiadary initiative of Empowerment Works, Inc., a 501(c)(3) organization based in San Francisco, California.The Zuia Project was initially intended to be a preventative medicine initiative to combat the HIV endemic in Ugenya, Kenya. Nyanza Province--where Ugenya is located--leads Kenya with an astonishing seroprevalence rate of 24%. Poverty and a lack of education contribute to the endemic. Furthermore, in this community, women have been identified as powerful agents of social change, namely because they take care of so many dependents. The Zuia Project now aims to alleviate poverty and thus reduce HIV through capacity building and educational programs that employ women and children as the primary vectors of societal transformation. On a less serious note, the Zuia Project Center is a fun, safe space for youth and adults alike to learn and play. While it is still young, the center, for many people, feels like home. In order to fully implement the programs we have designed, we need your help. Please help us by making a donation at our GIVE section today.

HOME

ABOUT

TAILORING

TECHNOLOGY

TAILORING

TAILORING
The Zuia Project Community Vocational Training Center targets driven women who cannot afford to continue with their secondary education. The program will provide women with a holistic education encompassing tailoring skills, including stitching and embroidery classes, and basic entrepreneurial strategies.Current Efforts The tailoring program, headed by our instructors Emma and Prisca, is currently working to strengthen its customer base and generate enough revenue to sustain the subsidized classes it will offer in January 2012. Emma and Prisca are currently marketing various products they design to the Ugenya community, including school uniforms, house decorations, and general clothing. They are trying to spread the Zuia name and mission in the process. Future EndeavorsThe Tailoring Program will begin offering highly subsidized vocational training classes in early January, 2012. Emma and Prisca will teach a 13 month long course to a total of 20 women. Eligible applicants to the program are low-income women who cannot afford to pursue secondary education. We thank the Kathryn Wasserman Davis Foundation for their generous contribution to the Zuia Project Community Vocational Training Center, for equipping us with the machines and paying for our invaluable staff.

HOME

ABOUT

TAILORING

TECHNOLOGY

TECHNOLOGY

ABOUT

TECHNOLOGY
The Zuia Project's Information Technology Program was created to offer highly subsidized training in computer classes and internet use to low-income youth around Ugenya. These opportunities will provide career skills and information access that are currently unavailable to much of the Ugenya community. Students will acquire skills in information technology and be able to compete with an increasingly computer literate Kenyan workforce. The program also aims to provide necessary cyber café services, such as general computer use, photocopying, printing, and scanning, to the community at large. Current EffortsThe program was launched by a local volunteer named Philip Oduma. Philip has worked tirelessly for the last two months to educate the Zuia Project's first computer students. Our students hail from communities all over Ugenya; many of them walk over 10 kilometers just to attend the computer classes. We are proud to announce this first generation of students--44 in total--graduated with training in Microsoft Office at the end of August.Our two newest staff members--our IT Department Head, Patrick, and our new computer instructor Emma--are both excited to begin offering basic cyber café services and computer classes for adults.Future EndeavorsThe Zuia Project has shifted its focus to capacity building and sustainability in an effort to offer better and more subsidized services in the future. We have temporarily suspended our free classes to generate some revenue for the project. Our current goal is to resume offering low-income youth free computer classes in January 2012. Patrick will spend the next three months working in the community to assess the computer needs of different schools in Ugenya. By 2012, we hope to meet these needs by equipping the IT Program with updated technology and hardware.

HOME

ABOUT

TAILORING

TECHNOLOGY

TAILORING

BEHIND THE LENS
You can write here about:What or who inspired you to create this piece, the color, the textures and the theme.You can also change the title of this page to Technique and write about your technique and materials.TO EDIT THIS TEXT AND ADD YOUR OWNsimply double click.Browser Text* Supports all languages* Easier to read when using smaller font sizes * Faster to load* Slight size variation depending on your site visitor's browserNotes: Browser text format only supports Times New Roman and Arial fonts.Please do not rotate – the text will distort when you publish.

TECHNOLOGY

ABOUT

TAILORING

TECHNOLOGY

LEADERSHIP

HEALTH

FACES

CONTACT

GIVE

Our Team

Resources

LEADERSHIP

HEALTH

FACES

BLACK and WHITE

COLOR

URBAN

BLACK and WHITE

Studio

Chair

Hair

Dark Hat

Beauty

Model

Car

Woman Heels

Color Dress

Evening

Flowers

Coffee

Beauty

Blue

High Angle

Evening

Night

Glasses

Purple

Graffiti

COLOR

stones on back

water hands

stones flower

white flowers

spa room

relaxing spa

orchid plant

oil candle

massage neck

lighting candles

girl flower

insense

dressin gown

essense lamp

black-stones

hands-massage

URBAN

Window Shutters

Red Wing

Sitting Man

Choc-Truffles

Children Waiting

Nitescape

Espresso Machine

Soldier

Nun

Pinapple

Waiting For The Tram

Sofa

Lightnings

Venice

Masks

Shinjuku Street

Stairway

Texi

Port

Hat

CONTACT

GIVE

Our Team

Resources

LEADERSHIP

ABOUT

LEADERSHIP
The Zuia Project aims to facilitate the leadership development of local youth and women. Current projects include the Youth Group Program, which funds income-generating projects led by local youth groups, and the Women's Leadership Program (WLP). The WLP is designed to empower local women to become active leaders and citizens in their community. The program has adopted curricula from the Colorado College Center for Service and Learning's ASPIRE program, the Center for Democracy and Citizenship's Public Achievement Program, and the University of Denver's community organizing model. WLP participants will address a key social problem in their community by designing their own civic engagement project.

HOME

ABOUT

TAILORING

TECHNOLOGY

TAILORING

BEHIND THE LENS
You can write here about:What or who inspired you to create this piece, the color, the textures and the theme.You can also change the title of this page to Technique and write about your technique and materials.TO EDIT THIS TEXT AND ADD YOUR OWNsimply double click.Browser Text* Supports all languages* Easier to read when using smaller font sizes * Faster to load* Slight size variation depending on your site visitor's browserNotes: Browser text format only supports Times New Roman and Arial fonts.Please do not rotate – the text will distort when you publish.

TECHNOLOGY

ABOUT

TAILORING

TECHNOLOGY

LEADERSHIP

HEALTH

FACES

CONTACT

GIVE

Our Team

Resources

LEADERSHIP

HEALTH

FACES

BLACK and WHITE

COLOR

URBAN

BLACK and WHITE

Studio

Chair

Hair

Dark Hat

Beauty

Model

Car

Woman Heels

Color Dress

Evening

Flowers

Coffee

Beauty

Blue

High Angle

Evening

Night

Glasses

Purple

Graffiti

COLOR

stones on back

water hands

stones flower

white flowers

spa room

relaxing spa

orchid plant

oil candle

massage neck

lighting candles

girl flower

insense

dressin gown

essense lamp

black-stones

hands-massage

URBAN

Window Shutters

Red Wing

Sitting Man

Choc-Truffles

Children Waiting

Nitescape

Espresso Machine

Soldier

Nun

Pinapple

Waiting For The Tram

Sofa

Lightnings

Venice

Masks

Shinjuku Street

Stairway

Texi

Port

Hat

CONTACT

GIVE

Our Team

Resources

HEALTH

ABOUT

HEALTH
The Health Outreach Program is currently being led by the local Uzima Youth Group. It will target 600 students at six different schools around Ugenya: Ndenga, Yenga, Kagonya, Jera, Lifunga, and Ramunde Secondary Schools. Uzima members will act as health coaches and implement a reproductive health curriculum designed by the Matibabu Foundation's Prevention Department. The Zuia Project team aims to deliver the highest quality education possible. This will be achieved by keeping the student-to-coach ratio small, at a maximum of 25 students per coach, and by supervision from the Prevention Department. The coaches aim to establish meaningful relationships with their students, creating safe spaces for them to talk about their health problems. Health talks will also be offered at the Zuia Project Center.

HOME

ABOUT

TAILORING

TECHNOLOGY

TAILORING

BEHIND THE LENS
You can write here about:What or who inspired you to create this piece, the color, the textures and the theme.You can also change the title of this page to Technique and write about your technique and materials.TO EDIT THIS TEXT AND ADD YOUR OWNsimply double click.Browser Text* Supports all languages* Easier to read when using smaller font sizes * Faster to load* Slight size variation depending on your site visitor's browserNotes: Browser text format only supports Times New Roman and Arial fonts.Please do not rotate – the text will distort when you publish.

TECHNOLOGY

ABOUT

TAILORING

TECHNOLOGY

LEADERSHIP

HEALTH

FACES

CONTACT

GIVE

LEADERSHIP

HEALTH

FACES

BLACK and WHITE

COLOR

URBAN

BLACK and WHITE

Studio

Chair

Hair

Dark Hat

Beauty

Model

Car

Woman Heels

Color Dress

Evening

Flowers

Coffee

Beauty

Blue

High Angle

Evening

Night

Glasses

Purple

Graffiti

COLOR

stones on back

water hands

stones flower

white flowers

spa room

relaxing spa

orchid plant

oil candle

massage neck

lighting candles

girl flower

insense

dressin gown

essense lamp

black-stones

hands-massage

URBAN

Window Shutters

Red Wing

Sitting Man

Choc-Truffles

Children Waiting

Nitescape

Espresso Machine

Soldier

Nun

Pinapple

Waiting For The Tram

Sofa

Lightnings

Venice

Masks

Shinjuku Street

Stairway

Texi

Port

Hat

CONTACT

GIVE

FACES

GIVE This project could not be sustained without the generous help of our donors. Your donation plays a direct role in empowering the youth and women of Ugenya. Please contact us if you have any questions about how specifically your donation will be used. Click 'donate' or make out a check payable to "Empowerment WORKS" with "The Zuia Project" in the subject line and mail it to:Empowerment WORKS, Attn: The Zuia Project, 601 Van Ness Ave., Suite E-722, San Francisco, CA. 94102

GIVE

Donate

The Zuia Project is an initiative of Empowerment Works, Inc., a California based 501(c)(3) organization.

Tax ID #: 31-179-6801. All donations are tax deductible to the full extent allowed by law.

Contact

CONTACT THE ZUIA PROJECT
USA TEAM528 E. Bijou St, Apt B, Colorado Springs, CO, 80903, USAMelissa, Co-Manager: +1 763 229 5975, melissa.serafin_zuiaproject.org Nikhil, Co-Manager: +1 650 380 0184, nikhil.ranadive_zuiaproject.org
KENYA TEAMThe Zuia Project, The Matibabu Foundation, 230 Ukwala, 40607, KenyaChrispine, Project Coordinator: +254 705222537, chris.wameyo_zuiaproject.org

Resources

IMPACT
Successful implementation of an "HIV and Gender" curriculum for 475 students across Ugenya, August - November. Twenty nine adults educated in basic information technology programs, August - November. Forty four high school students educated in basic information technology programs, June - August. Seven young women currently enrolled in the tailoring program. PUBLICATIONS AND REPORTS:

Benefactors

PARTNERS

The Zuia Project would not have been possible without our generous donors and partners:The Katheryn Wasserman Davis Foundation, for their 100 Projects for Peace GrantThe Keller Foundation and the Colorado College Venture Grant Program The Colorado College Center for Service and Learning's McHugh Leadership FundThe Colorado College Partnership for Civic Engagement

The Team

MATT WHITBY

PHOTOGRAPHY