Hatua Network

Gap Year Mentoring & Life Skills Peer Education

Location: Kenya

Sponsor: Mike Fitzgerald

Hatua Network Website

Hatua Network: A first-time grantee in 2024

Hatua’s mission is to end generational poverty by preparing promising Kenyan youth from low-income families to thrive in Kenya’s modern economy. Hatua does this by providing youth with educational scholarships for quality high school and university education, workplace experience while in school, mentoring focused on job readiness and soft skills critical for career success, and links to professional networks. Rather than being trapped in a cycle of generational poverty, youth instead build successful professional careers.

For more information, see: hatuanetwork.org

GRANT SUMMARY AND PURPOSE

2024: A grant of $40,000 will be used to fund two Gap Year mentoring programs. After completing high school, Kenyan students spend 9 months out of school as they wait to start university. During this “Gap Year” Hatua will train students to serve as peer educators in high schools throughout our community in two programs:

A 6-month Gap Year mentoring program for students on:

  • Entrepreneurship: using human centered design to develop business ideas, working in teams to create & pitch business ideas.
  • Financial Literacy: goal setting, budgeting, & money management
  • Computer Skills: Microsoft Office, email, & basic coding
  • Civic Education: the role of youth in Kenya’s democracy, the importance of integrity in leadership

A 7-month Life Skills Peer Education Program that provides reproductive health education with the goal of providing knowledge to prevent teen pregnancy by addressing the following topics:

  • Understanding the biology of reproduction
  • The social and emotional consequences of teen pregnancy
  • Pregnancy prevention: how to say no, the importance of consent, and methods of contraception.

GOAL

As an organization Hatua is committed to sponsoring and mentoring Kenyan students through tertiary education and supporting their transition into the workforce. As students progress in their future careers, they will change the educational and economic outcomes of their families, helping to end the cycle of generational poverty. Hatua also promotes gender equality, empowering young women to assert control over their bodies and futures, and creating lifelong changes in the ways boys and girls communicate and show respect for one another’s boundaries.