Al-Ta’awon Youth Organisation (‘Al-Ta’awon’ is an Arabic word meaning ‘united’) is a community based youth organization, located in Korogocho.

Korogocho slum is the third largest slum in Nairobi. It is situated 7 kms to the north-east part of Nairobi city. Korogocho is home to over 150,000 inhabitants. The government owns the land and the residents have no security of land tenure as a result they have put temporary structures using poor readily available materials. Illiteracy levels are outstandingly high with over 60% of inhabitants classified as being illiterate. Access to basic care is inadequate with most of residents lacking these vital services. Poverty levels are high with most families lacking adequate means of survival, due to lack of basic life skills.

Al-Ta’awon was originally founded in 1992 as a study group through which members who were all in school going age could support each other to pursue academic interests. However, having completed academic courses and transitioning into the job market, the members realized the need to transform the organization to look beyond education and include other areas of development to improve livelihoods in Korogocho.

Al-Ta’awon’s vision is to be a leading organization in empowering community with knowledge, healthcare and information while creating opportunities for exploitation of their capacity to fight poverty while the organization’s mission is to promote the welfare of the youth and the community through establishment of sustainable programmes by mobilizing resources.

Since April 2007, Digital Opportunity Trust has partnered with Al-Ta’awon to help community members in Korogocho develop their sustainable livelihoods through the ReachUp! Programme. So far 87 community members (mainly young people) have been trained through the ReachUp! Programme and have gone ahead to develop their sustainable livelihoods. Currently there are 16 community members who are undergoing ReachUp! training to enable them to develop their sustainable livelihood.

Contact information:
Abdi Mohammed
Programme Coordinator
Al-Ta’awon Youth Organisation
P.O.Box 7746-00100 Nairobi
altaawonyouth@yahoo.com