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| KENYA |
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Kenya is revered by anthropologists as the “cradle of humanity.” Visitors may be surprised by the stark contrasts of the Kenyan landscape. From the towering, 5199 meter high Mt. Kenya to the pristine, white sand beaches of the Indian Ocean coast, the barren land of the Turkana desert to the lush green pastures of the Great Rift Valley, the traditional thatched huts of the villages to the modern skyscrapers of Nairobi, Kenya is a land of contrasts.
With more than 33 million people, Kenya is a land of diversity. The population of Kenya is made up of numerous ethnic, religious and linguistic groups. In rural areas tradition is still very strong, with tribal languages still spoken by the majority of the people. Although Kenya is still basically a rural population, urban population is expanding rapidly and more than half of urban populations live in informal urban settlements where basic utilities such as clean water, and sanitation are insufficient resulting in high environmental degradation.
While Kenya has been long regarded as an island of stability in Africa, since its independence in 1963 Kenya has suffered through many corrupt governments and leaders. After much international prodding and internal dissent through the 1990s, Kenya was finally able to embrace multiparty democracy and shrug off Daniel arap Moi’s strangle-hold on power in late 2002. The move towards democracy and accountability has been slow and corruption still persists at senior levels of government. Kenya faces a number of challenges as a developing country. Kenya has had remarkable success in promoting human development, but there is still a lot of work to be done to help a large unemployed youth population and high HIV/AIDS rates. Youth Aged 15-35 currently number almost 60% of Kenyan population and comprise 61% of the unemployed.
YCI projects, in partnership with local organizations, are located in the Mombasa area of Kenya’s Coast province and focus on youth employability skills, awareness on HIV/AIDS and healthy sexuality, leadership skills and the empowerment of young women.
For more information about YCI programming in Kenya, read the “Program Country Profile – Kenya
| HDI: |
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154/177 |
| Life Expectancy: |
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55.31 years |
| Infant mortality: |
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57.44/1,000 births |
| Adult Literacy Rate: |
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85.1% |
| Youth Literacy Rate: |
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80.3% |
| HIV prevalence:
(ages 15-49) |
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6.7% |
Population living below
the
national
poverty line: |
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50% |
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Program Overview
