Sustainability of Nakuru Counseling and Training Institute

Manager Mr. Joseph Mwangi

Nakuru Christian Professionals Association 

is an association of doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, lecturers, dentists, agriculturalists, businessmen who are based in Nakuru. As part of their service to the community they successfully established Nakuru Counseling and Training Institute with mission to alleviate extreme poverty through offering affordable vocational training to the destitute youth from children's home and the disadvantaged families within Nakuru. The Institute offers vocational training in information technology, accounts, tailoring and dressmaking and hairdressing and beauty. 

Mr. Joseph Mwangi is the Manager of the Institute. I was mostly interested to hear his opinion about the future of the Institute now when the support of Finnish Foreign Ministry is nearly in the end.

The Institute is capable of running at full capacity

Mr. Joseph tells first. It has all approvals from the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Accreditation by Kenya Accountants and Secretaries National Examination Board (KASNEB), City & Guilds, Cisco among others. He also noted that the institute is in the plan of introducing more qualifications in its courses, so that there would be progression from certificate levels up to diploma levels.

He says: "In hairdressing at the moment we can offer only international exams. In the future the Institute would like to offer also governmental exams to cater for the students who cannot afford the City & Guilds exam fee but can sit for Government Grade tests."

In accounts department, the institute is accredited by KASNEB as a training and examination centre and it is envisaged that more students will enroll at the Institute considering that only four institutes were approved within Nakuru.

Computer studies are going very well, the Institute should take care that the amount of students doesn't go down by adding more advanced courses for continuity.

School bus needed

Then he said something a little surprising. "Actually, distance from Nairobi - Nakuru highway is a problem. If the institute was located near Shiner's high school close to the highway, the issues of increasing enrollment would never arise. Because it is not possible to move the institute, the problem will be solved once a school bus is acquired like many schools in Kenya have. The Institute could offer courses also for example to military personal, civil cervants, municipal council personal and other organized groups. With a school bus it would be possible to get people from their work places for example to two hour evening courses or four hours on Saturdays which now is not possible because of bad traffic connections.

The Institute has marketing plans and strategies of advertising its courses to prospective students.  If all the courses and boarding run at full capacity through the year there would not be any sustainability problems. "Always in the beginning of the year we have more sponsored students like from Arap Moi Children's home. Number of them is usually about 10 -20", he continued.

With full capacity there would not be enough money for development work but money for recurrent expenditure.

Mr. Joseph is introducing kitchen garden to British students.

 

What the Finns and Kenyans living in Finland could do to support the sustainability of the Institute  

 

"For those Kenyans in Finland supporting students here in Kenya, to send them to train with us at our institute for sustainability. Those with children homes and such projects we can visit them here in Kenya and propose to train their youths, rather than starting additional vocational institutes thus duplicating efforts. We can manage their students at our institute." 

If you are more interested of the Institute, look http://www.ncti.ac.ke/