Female - Based Business Training session
Morning light cut across plastic chairs arranged tight — notebooks open, pens clicking, phones face-down so M-PESA alerts would not steal the hour. This was day two of our youth business training, and the room leaned toward young women who are tired of being told to wait their turn.
We focused on skills that translate into real interviews: how to speak about experience when your CV is thin, how to handle shifts and uniforms, how to read a payslip without embarrassment. The hospital sector came up again and again — not glamour, but steady hours and a path that can hold a family when rent is due in cash, not promises.
Training is not magic. Some participants will land placements quickly; others will need more coaching, more referrals, more weeks of showing up. ETCO is grateful to every partner who keeps the hall lit and the facilitator paid — because dignity, here, looks like a schedule you can trust.
If you can sponsor transport stipends or print certificates for graduates, contact us through etco-kenya.org. Small KSh amounts often decide whether a young woman returns for day three — or stays home to mind a sibling.
At break, someone rehearsed introducing herself in English while a friend timed her on a phone stopwatch — thirty seconds, no filler. The hospital corridor is still imaginary, but the voice was already steadier.
Facilitators circled back to questions about night shifts, standing for hours, and how to ask for leave without sounding ungrateful — the invisible curriculum no brochure prints.
Project Site Visit by Rotary Club of IPSWICH (USA) and Kikuyu (Kenya)
It was a great and engaging day of partnership and learning as we hosted the International Rotary Club of IPSWICH team, led by Environmental Lawyer Chris and his wife, Jane, Former President of Rotary Club of Kikuyu Hon. George Ngotho and Rotarian Yumbya for a visit to our project implementation sites. The visit provided an opportunity to review the project areas on the ground, discuss implementation priorities, and strengthen our shared commitment to sustainable environmental and community development. We also had the opportunity to visit the Nairobi Rivers Commission (NRC), where we were hosted by Commissioner Dr. Loice Kipkorir, a member of the Ngong River Committee. We explored opportunities to strengthen collaboration and align our work with the Nairobi Rivers Commission's Restoration Framework.
Community Capacity Building Training
We are currently participating in the ongoing PROVE (Public Space Governance Research, Observation, Validation and Experimentation) Pilot Programme, a four-month initiative by Public Space Networks (PSN) bringing together 11 community groups from Kamukunji and Korogocho. The programme focuses on strengthening community organizations’ capacity to manage, protect and improve public spaces as well as restoring rivers and it's ecosystems. The ongoing capacity-building training is helping CBOs and community organizations better understand the connection between public spaces, river restoration and ecosystem conservation, while exploring practical approaches and stronger collaboration among communities, government agencies, development partners and other stakeholders.
High Level NRC & Development Partners Meeting
Representing the Ngong River Regeneration Network, I'm having the privilege of attending a high-level breakfast meeting convened by the Nairobi Rivers Commission (NRC) in collaboration with the Kenya Permanent Mission to UN-Habitat. The meeting has brought together Development Partners, Government Agencies, Private Sector representatives, and Community representatives to deliberate on the restoration and sustainable management of Nairobi’s rivers.