ICT For Development Program

The Digilabs Project seeks to address  the socio-economic barriers to entry into the labor  market for young women in rural Kenya.Digilabs are Integrated Resource Centers that advance digital literacy and promote ideas for start-ups and scale ups. Due to social constraints and stereotyping, women are particularly excluded from ICT related careers. Additionally, the few women who pursue such careers remain unemployed or underpaid compared to their male counterparts. The project uses  digital literacy as a tool against socio-economic barriers in last mile communities.

We do this  by leveraging the power of  information and communication technology (ICT) and associated benefits. Our model is conducting activation workshops, business development training, mentorship and linkage to financing or incubating partners. We leverage on building young community champions resulting in young leaders driving social change at the grassroots. To overcome the roadblock of a lacking startup funds, we have a kitty and this program called DigiFund that gives capital as a seed fund to most promising alumni of DigiLab. We have successfully empowered over 300 young entrepreneurs developing social businesses in the select counties we have operated.

Empower and Serve Kenya has been working in Kajiado since 2017. In partnership with Nanana Rescue Center, (HELGA) we operate a digital resource center serving as an avenue to provide livelihoods options through digital literacy, life skills training, enterprise development and job counseling to survivors of SGBV. We have also been providing technical support to Voices of Hope, a local NGO to implement digital incubation to support young women identify community problems and prototype and launch innovative social enterprise solutions.

Empower and Serve Kenya (EmpServe) in partnership with HELGA hope to rekindle the dreams and aspirations of the population in Kajiado through an integrated social innovation and learning center in Kajiado County on 1.5 acres of land. The center will be an adequately furnished center with training space, a Community Production Hub for income generation, demo farms to  drive agronomic practices and sustain their household food nutrition and a resource center with digital library and outdoors activities. Through this eco-village we hope to exemplify the power of sustainable communities.

With the overarching objective of unleashing the youth’s potential and boosting their participation in community and national development, EmpServe launched the Social Innovation Hub in Pangani in 2020. The Social Innovation Hub in Pangani marked a shift in our operational focus to training youth in the disadvantaged urban areas and informal settlements. The Hubs’ focus areas are to train in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Social Entrepreneurship Skills. 

The Hub serves as a skills acceleration and incubation center key to unlocking the huge potential of grassroots communities. Participants are empowered to clearly define the economic, social, and environmental challenges they face, craft self-sustaining solutions, and mobilize resources to implement solutions. 

The Social Innovation Hub targets girls aged 16-24 from Nairobi’s informal settlements training them in ICT and Entrepreneurship skills placing them on a social enterprise development pathway or employment pathway or empowering them looking to further their academia.The training takes place at the hub within a period of 3 to 6 intensive months.

With the help of our partner the Women Worldwide Web we have been able to empower  9 cohorts of girls from the neighboring areas of Mathare, Huruma, Kariobangi, and Dandora informal settlements, totaling 110 girls. We are currently training our 10th Cohort. Over 60% have accessed jobs or started a business.