Eager to promote her social enterprise beyond Nairobi, Kenyan Mariam Tahir Abdulrahman believed the Commonwealth People’s Forum would be the ideal starting point.

“I did a lot of networking and attended different sessions, which have been very inspirational. I will now take all this and use it to improve what I do back home,” Ms Tahir Abdulrahman said just moments after the three-day People’s Forum, which brought together civil society representatives from around the world, came to an end at the Corinthia San Ġorġ, in St George’s Bay.

Kenyan Mariam Tahir Abdulrahman set up the Uwezo Project at Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya, to help empower young girls.Kenyan Mariam Tahir Abdulrahman set up the Uwezo Project at Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya, to help empower young girls.

The 32-year-old hails from Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya. After continuously meeting vulnerable single mothers, some as young as 13 and struggling to make ends meet, Ms Tahir Abdulrahman was inspired to start an empowerment programme for girls. She called it the Uwezo Project and ran it alongside the Amani Kibera (Peace in Kibera) initiative.

Set up in 2012, the project has also received support from Maltese NGO Inizjamed and today runs its own day care centre, multimedia resource centre and a fashion school.

“In Swahili, uwezo means ‘ability’. Our focus is on problems faced by slum girls, and we make every effort to take girls back to school by providing them with free childcare services, computer literacy lessons and even fashion design courses,” she said.

The fashion school has proved to be very popular, especially since products such as jewellery are sold and a percentage of the money raised is given to the girls. “The rest goes towards sustaining the programme and to group savings that fund our other education programmes. In this way, these girls are helping other girls.”

The project’s ultimate aim is to equip the girls with different skills and empower them to take full control of their lives. “We often find internships for those who attend the fashion school, for instance, so that, upon completing the eight-month long course, many already have a job with local designers.” Others were also inspired to start their own business using the skills they acquired through the Uwezo Project.

Ms Tahir Abdulrahma’s next goal is to sell the girls’ jewellery in places outside of Kenya. She said she hoped her time in Malta would help make this possible.

“Over the years, we have re-ceived a lot of support from Malta. I am now looking at the possibility of being able to sell the products here. That would not only help sustain the programme, but knowing the product has left Nairobi would encourage the girls to work even harder,” Ms Tahir Abdulrahman said.

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