By Dickson Mwiti
A non-governmental organization operating in Meru and Tharaka Nithi wants the two levels of government to come up with ways of incorporating orphans and vulnerable children in vocational trainings centers without demanding education certificates.
Addressing journalists in Meru town, ZOE-Kenya Chief Executive Officer Reagan Kaberia said many vulnerable children from the two counties were being locked out of training opportunities due to lack of documents.
“We have many children out there who dropped out of school in lower classes so they can take care of their siblings. Such children have no chances to join these institutions just because they have no certificates though they can do well in trainings,” said Mr Kaberia.
He said vocational institutes offer practical courses and the vulnerable children in these societies can do very well.
He added, “We have been training these children on fields such as salon and beauty, carpentry, masonry, among others and they have been doing very well.
We do not have capacity to incorporate all the vulnerable children out there and this is the reason we are calling on the two county governments to find a way of chipping in.”
The organization, he added, will find a way of partnering with the two Counties to ensure trainees were handed over to them in order to buy start-up kits or find any other appropriate way of empowering them.
He further said training of such children who come from the localities will be one way of ensuring development in the two devolved units.
ZOE-Kenya which has been operating in the two Counties for the last 13 years has managed to empower about 40,000 vulnerable children but to Kaberia, this is a small figure compared to those who are not captured in their program.
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