Youth Empowerment and Participation

Youth Empowerment and Participation

FVA works with the youth to increase their livelihood opportunities and employability skills by equipping them with labour market skills. We train the youth in entrepreneurship skills including starting and managing small income generating businesses and making business plans. We also support the creation and functioning of internal saving and lending groups (ISLGs) of between 15-30 self selected youth and encourage them to save and borrow. The purpose of the ISLGs is to provide simple savings and loan facilities in the communities.

We support linkages between ISLGs and micro finance institutions. Many young people face challenges related to access to finance mainly due to lack of collateral. On the other hand, others face challenges related to procedures and lack of managerial experience to run their enterprises. A key entry point for the ISLGs is the formation of cooperatives which makes it easier for them to obtain loans.

youth cooperatives supported to increase their Production

The cooperatives are supported to start joint businesses that can easily secure loans from micro finance institutions. The ISLGs and cooperatives are equipped with business skills and mentored during ISLG and cooperative formation and operations to ensure that they make viable decisions.