Youth in Meru County have become the biggest beneficiaries of a project to improve access roads in low income estates such as Gitimbine, Mjini, Majengo and the environs where infrastructure had been destroyed by heavy rains and lack of maintenance.
The youth empowerment project is a partnership between Community Road Empowerment (CORE-Kenya), Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF) and World Bank aimed at engaging the youth in income generating activities.
At a cost of KSh360 million the project has created a link between the Eastern and Western bypasses.
Yuka Iwamura, the project manager, said the youths underwent skills and capacity building training before they embarked on the works in the targeted areas.
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“This project has created jobs and given youth an opportunity to earn a decent wage,” she said.
Iwamura said all the feeder roads were undergoing improvement using a labour-based Japanese technology known as ‘Do Nou’ technology.
Do-nou is a technology which involves the use of gunny bags filled with readily available local materials such as sand, farm soil, murram or gravel and is securely placed on the road.
“We want to empower the community by teaching them how to make their roads and we are targeting beneficiaries of about 1,250 young people,” she said.
George Kaluma, an engineer at CORE, said the training was aimed at equipping the groups and their leaders with knowledge and skills that will enable them to register as small-scale contractors under National Construction Authority Category 8 and afterwards progress as they continue working and making more money.
By John Majau
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