NairoBits Trust

NairoBits Nairobi is responsible for selection of students from the Nairobi informal settlements, the provision of training, and the development of websites for clients. Surrounded by quite a large network of partners and professional volunteers, NairoBits Amsterdam functions as a knowledge and technology pool that can be approached for online guidance, technical, organisational, and educational support. Together, the two NairoBits organisations developed a training method that combines art and information and communication technology (ICT) skills relevant to the regional circumstances.

Besides training, NairoBits offers a web design service which is intended to add experience and educational value to the NairoBits students; at the same time, the proceeds of the website design and development activities are channelled back to NairoBits. This allows them to train more youth from disadvantaged backgrounds who are not able to pay for fees.

The project also focuses on enabling the youth to tell their own stories through the creation of websites and gives them the opportunity to access information through the internet. As a result, young people are able to creatively express themselves by writing on the day-to-day issues affecting them as Africans, Kenyans, and - more so - as young people living in the informal settlements of Nairobi. According to the organisation, this allows young people to "also look at their life positively and to prove that their lives are not just a sad and bad story, but also the story of people determined to live a better life."

The programme hopes to enable youth to increase their chances in the job market. Since 2000, NairoBits has trained over 300 youth in information and communication technology (ICT) at different levels of qualifications. Over 50 of them who have trained up to Level 4 have secured jobs with web design and communications product companies.

To support this aim, NairoBits has established partnerships with two companies based in the Netherlands. For example, Outdare is a web design company that since 2004 has been outsourcing projects from their international clients to NairoBits students. This has effectively exposed the students to global level professionalism and, at the same time, earned them revenue at a higher international rate.

Technology, Youth, Economic Development.

NairoBits won the World Youth Summit Award, in the category of creativity and culture, at the 2005 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Nairobits has also been a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge.