Program Approach & Strategy
In response to these challenges, Good Kenyan was founded. Established in 2017, Good Kenyan is an organization that aims to mentor, empower and equip high school graduates, grouped into cohorts, through a four-month program that cultivates marketable job skills and career development plans as a launching pad into an actionable self-driven future. Good Kenyan seeks to fill the time-gap that occurs between completion of high school and the commencement of tertiary or vocational education.
Registered as a social enterprise and inbuilt to the curriculum at Good Kenyan is an income generating platform designed to economically empower beneficiaries by making hand-made products using recycled materials that are sold through various individual and corporate markets. This paired approach invests in youth with both immediate and long-term impact on income earning potential. By working through solutions to livelihood challenges today and in the years to come, the Good Kenyan model encourages youth to remain positive and healthy members of society by virtue of this unique approach for self-development.
The Good Kenyan’s curriculum applies a mix of learning methods including classroom-style trainings, individualized mentorship and coaching, internship or entry-level job placement and community volunteerism. Applied over a four-month period, the program takes cohorts through the following modules of these diverse methodologies:
Information communication and technology (ICT)
Personal Finance management and planning
Entrepreurship and business development
Life skills such as Effective communication, Goal setting, Leadership, Critical thinking, Etiquette, CV writing, Public speaking, Personal branding, Relationships, Drug & Alcohol abuse, Good citizenry, Art of persuasion and negotiation
Good Kenyan product and craft making
Career selection and development planning
Perhaps one of the most unique aspects of our model is our central pillar of mentorship. Deeply connected with our name, Good Kenyan connects volunteer mentors of good standing in Kenyan society with our young and vulnerable youth to invest in their personal growth and transform their life trajectory. Good Kenyan carefully vets and matches each young person with a mentor aligned in their career interests to create a relationship for ongoing learning and personal development. This grounds the youth in a realistic understanding of what it takes to drive and build a career path, and provides experientially based advice on navigating challenges along the way. The Good Kenyan mentors are 100% volunteers and represent Kenyan professionals across every sector and industry including but not limited to health, education, law, business, media, the arts, sports and technology.
Each youth in our program is expected to select and work on a community project before graduating.