Nurturing Mutomo ICT Gurus

By Rhoda Musili & Arnold Mukala

When word got out in January 2012 that Mutomo Maarifa Centre was to offer free ICT training, it was a great relief to many residents who were yearning to invest in IT skills training in Mutomo and other neighboring towns. In less than one week, over 80 community members had flocked the Centre to register for this rare opportunity. Not many could believe that such training could be offered free of charge and majority wanted to confirm if the good news was indeed true!

The free community training is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded to ALIN in August 2011 to implement various community activities. The main goal of the community IT training is to enable communities’ access opportunities and resources available globally and to catalyse youth entrepreneurship for livelihoods improvement.

Reaching the Mutomo Community

In a bid to reach all the community members the Field Officer used the Maarifa centre Advisory Committee members, public Barazas, notice boards at strategic places like District Commissioner’s compound and even churches to pass the word across. A form was designed to register those interested and captured the following trainee details like name, age, level of education, occupation, preferred time for training and how the trainees planned to utilize the skills gained and how they heard about the opportunity. Within a period of one month, over 100 trainees had registered for the basic IT training. The training packages include: Introduction to computers, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Internet.

Composition of the Trainees

After registration, Mr Phillip Kyule analyzed the registration form and came up with very interesting results as follows: a whopping 80 % of the interested community members heard about the opportunity from the Advisory Committee members, 19 % got the information from friends and neighbors while 1 % got it from the Maarifa Centre’s Face book account.

Youth registered the highest number of trainees with 76% while adults came second with 31 % followed by children with 3 % beneficiaries......Read more

Putting knowledge into practice; a farmer’s journey to success

Agriculture has been said to be the back bone of Kenya’s economy.Over 75 % of Kenyans depend on agriculture to sustain their livelihood. However,changing climatic conditions have resulted to minimal rainfall amounts, a situation that has resulted to recurrent food shortages.

Kisilu Musya is a farmer in Kyatune Location, Ikanga Division of Mutomo District. Due to unfavorable climate conditions, he has had to embrace alternative farming to realize food security. Knowledge has played a major role in Mr.Kisilu’s journey to realize this goal.

Mr.Musya explains how knowledge has improved his livelihood

An ALIN network member since Mutomo Maarifa Centre’s establishmentin 2007, Mr.Kisilu has been receiving ALIN’s magazines namely Baobab and Joto Africa

It was through Baobab issue 57 magazine that Mr Kisilu read an article on alternative fodder. The article had listed down pawpaw as one of the drought resistant crops.

“Before I used to do farming but lacked knowledge on the best crops to grow in our area. I mostly relied on maize which always failed me,“says Mr. Musya adding that during good times, he makes approximately $37 from pawpaw sales from 18 pawpaw trees only.

Apart from his pawpaw enterprise, Mr. Musya has also embraced indigenous crops like sorghum, millet, green grams and pigeon peas.

“My livelihood has improved .I now see a bright future for my family”, concludes the father of seven

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Youth secure employment from free IT training!

Article by:Arnold Mukala

At Sterling Computer Enterprise in Mutomo town, Alex Matuku is busy typing a document. A few months back, the 29 year old man could not operate a computer. But days after completing free ICT training offered at Mutomo Maarifa Centre, he has secured a job at the enterprise.

He is one of the 58 community members who have already benefited from free ICT training offered through Mutomo Maarifa Centre. The free community training is part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded to ALIN in August 2011 to implement various community activities. The main goal of the community IT training is to enable communities’ access opportunities and resources available globally and to catalyze youth entrepreneurship for livelihoods improvement.

Mr.Mutuku busy at work

“Before the training, I did not have a clue on anything to do with computers; I could not even define what a computer was. But now, I can type, print, scan, and perform basic calculations in a document. I can also work with internet comfortably," says Alex

Mr.Mutuku adds that he owes this to ALIN for he could not have gotten this job if not for the opportunity and urges other community members to take this rare opportunity.

“I feel empowered.” He concludes

Another empowered youth is Andrew Mbuvi.He too has secured a job as a secretary at Korrect Enterprise Designers and Printers, a printing and designing business in Mutomo town.His duties as a secretary include typesetting, printing, photocopying and designing.

“ALIN has made me who I am today. Its thanks to the IT training I have secured this job .I am now building my future‘’, says a beaming Andrew.

Andrew performs his secretarial duties

Mr Mbuvi urges the Mutomo community to not only take advantage of the free IT training but also take advantage of the free information resources at Mutomo Maarifa Centre.

Utilizing ICT skills; Beneficiaries praise opportunity

Kisilu Musya has always been techno phobia and used to associate computers with only the elite members of the society. But thanks to a free community ICT training opportunity offered at the Mutomo Maarifa Centre he can now operate a computer comfortably.

“This opportunity gave me a lot of skills. I can now type and format a document the way I see them in magazines ‘’ says Mr.Kisilu. The 43 year old farmer who practices agro forestry adds that he plans to use the knowledge gained in documenting his farming activities.

Mr.Kisilu types a document

A beneficiary of Kenya Forest Service’s Farmer Field School (F.F.S) project which trains community members on Agro forestry, Mr Kisilu is also the Chairman of MUIMUKO (Mutomo Mutha Ikutha FFS Network) which is made up of 53 groups of the larger Mutomo District. He trains the members on agro-forestry and smart farming...Read more

Putting ICT skills into Practice....Mr.Kioko's Experience

Mr Kioko outlines the plans he has in putting the skills gained into practice

Kioko Kisuni is a free ICT beneficiary who has dreams of using the skills gained to uplift the standards of Mola Mathina support group, a support group which practices modern farming as a way of improving their livelihoods.

“I will use my skills to keep financial records, write proposals, and seek grants online among other things “says the 26 year old who is the secretary of the support group.

Mr.Kioko was among the first group of community members who have just completed the computer training course being offered at Mutomo Maarifa Centre .During this training period which ran for one and half months , the 56 community members were trained on the five basic computer packages which included Microsoft XP, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint and Information & communication (Internet ). Kindly visit this link and see the the complete analysis of the beneficiaries

Mola Mathina support group's background

Based in Kyatune Location of Mutomo District, the support Group was established in 2010 with an aim of bringing the community together and practicing modern agriculture as a way of improving members’ livelihoods. The group’s activities include green house farming, tree nursery management and goat keeping.

“We believe that everybody has knowledge, that is why we formed this group so as to use it as a learning field and learn from each other’ “says Kisilu Musya, a member

Comprising of 60 members (52 F,8 M ),the group benefited from a local green house donated by the Disaster Risk Management (DRR ) under the Catholic Diocese.DRR provided the materials while group members provided labour.DRR also gave members goats whereby each member benefited with two (2 ) goats .