Mathare slum, is one of the largest informal settlements in Nairobi. Just like any other informal settlement in the world, the Mathare slum is characterized by poor housing structures made of old iron-sheets, inadequate or absent sanitation facilities, large mountains of garbage or solid waste materials, poor infrastructure, lack of proper health facilities, unemployment, high illiteracy levels, and high population density – of which youth constitute 79%. In Mathare, Due to a lack of job opportunities, many youths find themselves engaging in major societal vices such as handling and abusing drugs, violence, mugging, commercial sex work, and youth gangs. One of the main causes of the high poverty in the slum of Mathare is the high rate of unemployment, also as result high levels of illiteracy. Most of the youth in Mathare do not complete formal education, past primary school. Most of those who complete, even past high school, do not perform well because of challenges they face such as frequent interruption in their school attendance, lack of school fees and materials, and an unfriendly learning environment. When out of school they have limited access to skills, mentorship and opportunities to enable them to earn a sustainable livelihood.
To address this challenges, Oasis Mathare provides practical solutions to helps reduce illiteracy and poverty in Mathare using different approaches, all based on deep understanding of the challenges that affect the youth and children in Mathare.
TextSchool
TextSchool is an innovative mobile application that target students with limited internet and hardware accessibility to access unlimited content using SMS
What sets TextSchool apart from other model is that it is SMS based and can be accessed via any phone (smart or feature phones) as long as the phone can send and receive text messages, by dialing*250*11# using Safaricom sim card. It can also be accessed by any learner residing in remote areas in Kenya since it rides on Safaricom ‐ who have a good network coverage in Kenya.
TextSchool was selected as Top 10 Innovative Education in Africa by African Union.
Read more about TextSchool here…
Economic Empowerment
Oasis Mathare provides community participants from Mathare with ICT and social entrepreneurship skills. Community Participants are youths and young mothers without work and no meaningful income. They are introduced to basic business skills, social entrepreneurship, identifying opportunities around them and design thinking. They also learn software engineering and graphics design, that empowers program participants become tech-savvy and use the skills to either market their skills and business, get employed or even use tech as a form of employment.
Science,Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics and Design (STEAMD)
Safe Spaces for Early Child Development and Literacy
A key feature of slum dwellings is the absence of open play spaces for small children. As a solution, Oasis Mathare provides space where children are able to come to play with toys for free. As they play, they are encouraged by older children and youth to read, develop their talent and use technology. This approach has been very effective as students who frequent Oasis Mathare have greatly improved their literacy. Children spend an average of five hours a day at the center playing educational computer games to develop their critical thinking and other forms of games that encourages learning at an early age.
The space targets young mothers who are allowed to drop their kids to play as they access services such as economic empowerment and livelihood skills.