Partners

The Children and Youth Empowerment Center (CYEC) is a project of the Street Families Rehabilitation Trust Fund – an organization established by the government of Kenya as a public-private sector partnership to oversee the national program for street dwelling children, youth and families. CYEC is located in Nyeri, the capital of the Central Province, about 75 km north of Nairobi.  It currently serves 160 children in residential and non-residential care and a further 40-50 at its associated drop-in center. The Mashavu team visited CYEC in the summer of 2008. CYEC has agreed to pilot the Mashavu system. A large team from Penn State is working with CYEC on another project involving building eco-villages as an exit strategy for the street-dwelling youth.

The United Nations Industrial Development Office (UNIDO) in Kenya is interested in the Mashavu project because it is an excellent fit with their “Lighting Up Kenya” initiative. From 2004-2007, the PI led a project in Kenya which attempted to set up businesses around windmills that can be manufactured locally. One of the PI’s collaborators was subsequently hired by UNIDO for their rural electrification and micro-enterprise development initiative. The Mashavu team met with the UNIDO representative for Kenya and Eritrea in summer 2008 and decided to synergize on the Mashavu project. UNIDO will be setting up “sustainable energy kiosks” at CYEC in collaboration with the Government of Kenya.

The African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) is an international African organization headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, founded in 1957. Similar to Mashavu’s vision, its vision is Better Health for Africa. Being one of the continent’s leading health development and research organizations, AMREF implements its projects through country programmes in Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Southern Sudan and South Africa. Training and consulting support are provided to an additional 30 African countries. AMREF has telemedicine systems to connect rural and urban clinics but needs inexpensive diagnostic technology to reach children in rural communities. Mashavu presents a perfect symbiotic relationship with AMREF.