application development

Project Location

Country: 
Uganda
City: 
Kampala

Organization

Organization Name: 
Kampabits
Organization Type: 
Company

Website

www.kampabits.org

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Project Type

Education up to 29 years

Project Description

Description Frase (max. 500 characters): 

Kampabits exists to positively change the lives of vulnerable youth in Uganda by improving their access to productive employment as well as their ability to cope with their social environment through creativity and innovation.

Project Summary (max. 2000 characters): 

We work with several community based organizations to identify and recruit out of skill youth. We train for a year in ICT skills, entrepreneurship, Sexual reproductive health rights and life skill/work related and social etiquette. Trained youth are sent to our business partners to work as interns for 3 months while developing skills learnt. We lobby business partners to provide employment to the interns.
The concept is a ‘chip-off’ the concept used by Nairobits since 1999. Nairobits has been implementing the project targeting vulnerable unemployed youth from the slums in the city of Nairobi (Kenya).

With support of Butterflyworks, Nairobits and Terre Des Hommes, the concept was turned into a project and implemented in Kampala (Uganda) in 2010. The project has been implemented by Kampabits since. The organization derives its name it’s from the city where it exists i.e. Kampala-Kampa, and Bits-smallest unit in computing hence the name Kampabits.

How long has your project been running?

2010-05-30 22:00:00

Objectives and Innovative Aspects

Globally, youth make up 25% of the global working age population, but account for 43.7% of the unemployed. This means that every other jobless person in the world is between the ages of 15-24 years (UN-Habitat, 2015).
Uganda has a high population growth rate and over 80% of its population is below the age 25. In 2013, an estimated 63% of Ugandan youths aged 15-30 years were reported unemployed.
Research by the International Labor Organization (ILO) shows a strong correlation between youth unemployment and social exclusion, and suggests that this may lead to political and social instability, and possibly violence.

Objectives.
-To improve the prospects of formal employment for youth from informal settlements.
-To increase the prospects of self-employment on the part of youth from informal settlements.
-To improve the capacity of youth from informal settlements to deal with those social factors that affect the quality of their lives.
-To assure relevance, effectiveness, learning, replication and innovation in Kampabits.

Skills training, employer liaison and advocacy with businesses, partnership with community based organizations to identify and recruit vulnerable youth.

Results

Describe the results achieved by your project How do you measure (parameters) these. (max. 2000 characters): 
200 beneficiary have been empowered since 2010. Our capacity has increased from 20 beneficiary a year 2010-11, to 40 beneficiary a year 2012-2013, up to 80 beneficiary a year 2014. Some of the Indicators that we are using to measure the project are; -Number of vulnerable youth recruited. -Number of beneficiary who complete the skills empowerment training. -Level of knowledge of empowered beneficiary in ICT, entrepreneurship. -Perception and attitude of beneficiary with regard to Sexual reproductive health rights, and life skills. -Number of beneficiary who undertake internship. -Number of beneficiary who progress from internship to paid employment. -Number of beneficiary who start a business and sustain it for at least 3 months after completing skills empowerment training.
How many users interact with your project monthly and what are the preferred forms of interaction? (max. 500 characters): 

We have 80 beneficiary enrolled for 2013/14 skills empowerment training. Following activities constitute learning process for the beneficiary.
-Class room sessions; Introduction to basic ICT concepts, web design, web development, graphics and animation.
-Life skills training; conducted in class, Focused group discussions, sports activities.
-Free voluntary HIV/AIDS counseling and testing (At least 3 times a year).
-Mentoring visits to organizations, (e.g. Thought works May 2015).
-Mentoring by business owners from the community. Business owners are invited to share their experiences of starting and running their establishments.

Sustainability

What is the full duration of your project (from beginning to end)?: 
From 1 to 3 years
What is the approximate total budget for your project (in Euro)?: 
From 75.001 to 500.000 Euro
What is the source of funding for your project?: 
Grants
Is your project economically self sufficient now?: 
Yes
Since when?: 
2018-11-29 23:00:00

Transferability

Has your project been replicated/adapted elsewhere?: 
Yes
Where? By whom?: 
Arua; Aruabits Ghana, Tamale; Tamabits Pakistan; Indusbits Addis Ababa; Addisbits Zanzibar; Zanzibits The concept has been replicated elsewhere with technical assistance of Butterflyworks, and consultancy from the older bits in corporations with individuals who have a passion for using technology to empower the youth.
What lessons can others learn from your project? (max. 1500 characters): 

-Partnering with Community based organizations is an effective way of identifying potential beneficiary if beneficiary inclusion parameter are well known.
-Having strong personal relations (project-businesses) can facilitate the process of advocating for the businesses to employ and take up beneficiary as interns.
-Limited access to finance/credit still hinders the ability of empowered beneficiary to start up their own businesses.
-Short term empowerment projects that teach very specific skills may equip vulnerable youth with more competence and hands on experience than University graduates.
-ICT based interventions are capital intensive and expensive because of high cost of equipment, internet, soft wares.
-Using open source software and applications can significantly reduce costs and provide alternative platforms for learning to beneficiary.

Are you available to help others to start or work on similar projects?: 
Yes

Background Information

Barriers and Solutions (max. 1000 characters): 
-Lack of mid-term/long term Funding. -Stigma toward informal skills empowerment. -Limited physical space to scale; we are actively seeking and petitioning potential donors to support us in establishing training centers in slums around the city. This will help reduce pressure on the main facility when we increase the number of beneficiary. -Limited advocacy capacity; A resource mobilization officer was hired. The organizations is actively seeking membership to CSO advocacy coalitions that -Beneficiary drop out before completing the empowerment training -Low confidence of potential employers to recruit empowered beneficiary; Employer liaison officer recruited to convince and induce businesses to take up interns.
Future plans and wish list (max. 750 characters): 
-Empowered beneficiary becoming agents of social innovation and entrepreneurship in their communities. -A bits project established in every town and city in Uganda, East-Africa and the whole of Africa; we will tell the success story of the project, and share lessons; we will write funding proposals for funding to establish the project in other towns around Uganda. -Project achieves financial sustainability and profitability; we will scale the operations of the Kampabits design agency to increase its profitability; we will increase the portfolio of donors that fund the organization to ensure diversity in funding sources.
web development Web design developing employable skills ICT skills empowering vulnerable youth Kampabits youth intervention application development graphics and animation
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