More than 60 youths have benefited from technical training offered by Meru county.
They have been trained on various skills including making of soil stabilised building blocks.
The blocks will be used for construction of Early Childhood Development Education centres within the county.
They are part of governor Kiraitu Murungi’s flagship project of 1000 Meru Youth Service (MYS) personnel.
The youths, who had graduated as community health volunteers (CHVs) have been in a two-week training on the production of the blocks at Kinoru Stadium.
The training laid emphasis on theory, production for normal shelters and also on the much elaborate complex buildings.
Chief Officer Youth Affairs Florah Kananu who was accompanied by her Sports counterpart, Mercy Ndiira, said the county government has received a boost from UN Habitat since the launch of the MYS programme in April 2018.
“The 60 MYS members were being trained in the pilot project and more will be trained on these technology,” Kananu said.
Florah expressed hope that the technology will reduce costs when utilised in major county construction projects including ECDE classes the government is set to construct.
“We are happy to see that with a ratio of 16 buckets of soil to one sack of cement, one can do a very stable project. We are looking into extending this project ccounty-wide so that our youths are near idle,” she said.
Michael Chicoo Cajuma, Instructor from UN Habitat, said the interlocking blocks use less mortar.
He said that the construction takes almost half the time compared to a similar building done using other forms of blocks.
He added, that after production, the eco-friendly blocks take utmost 21 days to dry using indirect sunlight, giving a naturally appealing outlook, hence no much need for painting
Kanana noted that the technique will be of essence in implementing the national government affordable housing which is among the big four agenda. “It is on this that the county government of Meru has married the idea of equipping the Meru Youth with the relevant technical skills that can aid in the actualisation of this project alongside creating a source of employment for the youth,” Kananu said.
Due to the block’s significant uniformity, the building process is efficient and takes relatively shorter time when constructing the walls of a house.
The training is part of the Meru Youth Service Programme implemented by the County Government of Meru and launched in April 2018.
It is a unique initiative in which 1000 young people drawn from administrative wards in the county will receive training in fields such as agriculture, health services and urban regeneration.
This an ambitious 5-year plan to provide sustainable alternatives for youth who have been deprived of a key source of income as a result of the ban on miraa exports to the European Union estimated to be worth US $ 6 billion annually. UN-Habitat and the Meru County Government held a two-day youth empowerment conference in Meru Town 3-4 May 2018 themed Build the Youth, Build the Future.
The conference identified solutions to key challenges affecting young people among them youth radicalisation, poverty, unemployment and alcohol and drug abuse which must be addressed to rally youth to participate meaningfully and effectively in governance and economic development.
The governor has been urging youth in Meru to enrol for programmes at vocational training centres and polytechnics to acquire relevant skills needed for jobs set to be created by President Uhuru Kenyatta’s Big Four agenda projects.
Kiraitu cited the one million houses the government intends to construct as some of the projects that will create employment opportunities for people with technical skills.
He said equipping the youth with technical skills will also help fight poverty, apathy, joblessness, and anti-social behaviour.
“We want youths to be agents of change. This is why we recruited 1,000 youths [to the Meru Youth Service], with 600 of them currently undertaking different courses at Meru National Polytechnic.”
“This is the most ambitious youth programme in the country. We have become the envy of other counties who are now coming to Meru to benchmark. Our aim is at the end we do have electricians, masons, so that they can partake in the building of the government’s houses,” said the governor at the Meru County headquarters where he flagged off a new bus meant for the Meru Youth Service.
He said he will support and allocate more funds to the Meru Youth Service.