Huru International Announces a Skills Transfer Program to Help Build a Skilled GirlForce

This International Day of the Girl, Huru is celebrating with a skilled, healthy, employable GirlForce.

Huru International, known for making and distributing reusable sanitary pads and panties that have kept 150,000 girls in East Africa in school, healthy and safe, is excited to announce it has launched a training program focused on skills in-demand by the textiles industry.

“On this International Day of the Girl, we are excited to announce our textile skills transfer program, which is designed to provide training in skilled areas needed in the market today,” said Wanjiru Kepha, Country Director, Huru International. “We are pleased to support the important vision for developing a ‘Skilled GirlForce.’”

Huru’s new training program is in direct alignment with the goals for “With Her: A Skilled GirlForce,” UNICEF’s theme for the 2018 International Day of the Girl. By expanding its programming into the training space, Huru will help develop a population of young Kenyan women who are healthy, educated, employable and financially independent.

One in five Kenyans is between the ages of 15 and 24, and youth unemployment in Kenya is the highest of all East African nations. Unlike the African continent as a whole, youth unemployment has increased in Kenya since 2000. Women and girls are adversely affected.

When they reach menarche, girls drop out of school at disproportionately higher rates than boys, limiting their opportunities and often hindering girls and young women from fully participating in the formal labor market. Huru listened to concerns from out-of-school young women and developed a training program to help provide marketable, employable skills as a gateway toward personal and economic independence.

Huru’s new training opportunities focus on industrial sewing and tailoring, and trainees will gain skills to produce a wide range of health products like reusable sanitary pads, panties, reusable diapers and bed nets. There are also advanced courses available for dress and uniform making and tailoring. Taken in full, these courses can provide a direct route to nationally-recognized certification.

Course offerings also include an emphasis on “soft skills” such as business, finance, entrepreneurship and health and life skills education for personal well-being.

Participants learn from and are mentored by Huru experts, who bring 51 years of relevant experience to the trainings.

Huru invites those interested in learning more about its new skills transfer program to contact info@huruinternational.org.