Educational and entrepreneurial activities in Kenya

Mondo offers support to local children who face economic hardship in obtaining secondary and high school education, helps raise the education standards and improves quality of school environment in local schools. The child support programme works solely thanks to private donors in Estonia – every year, the donations enable around 130-140 secondary students (including special needs students) and 40-50 high school students go to school. Mondo holds a database of children and donors and mediates the sister school relations between Estonian and Shianda district schools.

In 2012, Mondo sent the first volunteers to Shianda to offer local women sewing skills training. Since then, tens of women who completed the sewing training make school uniforms for the children of Mondo support programme, allowing the women to earn an additional income.
Over the years, Mondo and GLEN-programme volunteers have organised trainings for girls dropped out of school, worked in HIV prevention, offered computer education etc. Shianda has been the destination for volunteer teachers, agriculture experts, healthcare workers and physiotherapists.
Since 2018, Mondo sends volunteer experts to the area with EU AID Volunteers programme in order to continue work on education and community development, including healthcare.

With the help of volunteers sent from Estonia to Shianda, local women’s groups have begun with entrepreneurship in sewing as well as established an agricultural union Wefoco Multipurpose Cooperative Society which focuses on poultry farming. The union is comprised of 5 subdivisions, of which each have their own management board.
In 2015-2016 Mondo was able to provide support for cooperatives and in 2017-2018 offer additional empowerment thanks to Ministry of Foreign Affairs development cooperation funds. The sewing businesses were provided with various machinery like sewing machines, T-shirt print and embroidery machines. In addition to that, different courses and assistance in procurement preparations was offered. The agricultural cooperatives were equipped with solar-powered incubators for hatching chicks as well as newly constructed hen houses. The funds were also used to organise various trainings and educational field trips about cost-effective farming.
Mondo has previously also cooperated with Kibera Community Empowerment Organization (KCEO) that empowers young people living in Kibera slums in Nairobi. In addition to that, Mondo has helped start the QUIN-Estonia potato farming project.