"My certificate helped me stand out during the interview."
Faith, Class of 2025, at Neema’s new campus
In Kenya, while public schools are technically free, families still bear the burden of costs for textbooks, uniforms, lunch, and other fees. For families surviving on less than $2 a day, these expenses are impossible. And when children attend school, they are unable to contribute to the family income, making it even harder for families living in extreme poverty to justify sending a child to school.
The challenge of school attendance is even worse for girls. Teen pregnancy, early marriages, and cultural norms that favor boys’ education over girls’ result in fewer girls completing their schooling. In fact, less than 25% of women in rural Kenya who start school manage to complete high school. And when young women in extreme poverty become teen mothers and drop out of school, they become even more vulnerable.
Neema is committed to changing this narrative. Each year, we welcome the most vulnerable women in the local community into our three-year program, providing them with the education and skills necessary to support themselves and their families.
A key component of our program is preparing these women for the National Industrial Training Authority (NITA) certifications in tailoring and dressmaking. These certifications are the same as those earned by students at technical colleges in Kenya and qualify them to work across the country.
Faith, a 2020 alumna, shares her success story: “The NITA certificate helped me convince and prove to the Kitale Wool Shop that I am a certified seamstress with the required skills. My certificate helped me stand out during the interview since other candidates did not have it.”
Faith graduated from Neema in 2020 and has since worked at the Kitale Wool Shop.
Our mission is to DOUBLE the number of young women like Faith who find hope and new opportunities at Neema. By equipping them with skills in tailoring, dressmaking, and permaculture farming, and providing them with counseling and discipleship, we are transforming their lives and their communities. You can help us expand our reach and impact by ensuring that even more women have the chance to build a brighter future for themselves and their families.
Join The Grace Collective, our monthly giving community, for as little as $5 a month, and transform the lives of those in need today.