Mizizi e.V.
Growing ideas
DANCE MTAANI
Dance Mtaani is a Kenyan community-based organization (CBO) that has been organizing dance classes and events for children and young people for years. Together with Mizizi, Dance Mtaani wants to build a youth center in Nairobi and later look after it independently.
What is the problem?
One of the greatest challenges in Kenya is high unemployment, which is often even higher in cities than in the countryside. In addition, it is mainly young people between the ages of 15 and 24 who cannot find jobs. At this age, young adults try to find out who they really are and where their place is in this world.
To be confronted in such a formative phase with the paralyzing feeling of lack of opportunities and prospects can have an enormous impact on the development of young people. Young people are frustrated, do not feel part of society, have existential fears and are increasingly losing faith in themselves. For this reason, there are more and more young people who feel compelled to live on the streets or take refuge in crime.
How can a youth center solve that?
A youth center gives young adults a “safe space” where they can feel at home, exchange ideas and make a difference together. By promoting their talents, they learn that they are of value and that they can achieve something - even without money. This promotes self-confidence, gives them the feeling of not being alone and of being perceived as part of society again. A youth center offers young adults the opportunity to deal with topics that interest them.
You can organize and help shape meetings and events on your own. In this way, the young people learn the ability to work in a team, to solve conflicts, to work independently, to rely on each other and finally to be able to trust their own abilities. It also promotes tolerance and exchange in a country with 42 tribes and around 62 different languages and dialects.
How does Mizizi support?
Since the group is very well organized and takes on the planning of the project largely independently, Mizizi mainly provides financial support for the purchase of land and the construction of the youth center.