Secondary school scholarships

The project provided 22 young people with high potential from the Mathare slum with scholarships covering their secondary school education. During the time when the Covid-19 pandemic forced schools to close, students benefitted from supplementary programme support such as emergency food and hygiene products, tutoring provided by CMET alumni, access to computers for online learning and workshops on reproductive and mental health. In order to counter the school closures additional terms were added to the final year of school. Despite these disruptions students completed their secondary education in Mach 2022 and wrote their Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education (KCES) in April 2022. While waiting for the results, the scholars participate in a 3-month supplementary computer training, providing them with much needed skills not acquired at school, such as CV writing. All students were successful in their KCES exams and commenced higher education studies in September 2022, in various programs such as communications and media studies, hotel and tourism management, biochemistry, finance, nursing, disaster risk management, international relations, and public health. The students are on the road to pursuing careers that will enable them to contribute meaningfully to society and ultimately to break out of the cycle of poverty. The project has resulted in real change for not just the students but also for their families and the Mathare community.

Canada Mathare Education Trust (CMETrust) is a Canadian charity founded in 2006. It aims to increase access to education for vulnerable young people from the Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya, in order for them to positively change their own their families’ lives.