Number one and one of the most important global sustainable development goals is promoting access to basic human needs of health, education, and sanitation, thus, alleviating poverty. Under this program, we work towards seeing all our members who are either people with disability or caregivers of persons with disability become economically empowered, have access to social protection measures, and obtain decent work and income. With this income, they should be able to contribute economically to their families and communities, as well as meet their disability-related needs. We engage our beneficiaries in the whole process, from the design of the interventions, implementation, and evaluations of each activity they are engaged in, to attain economic empowerment. This we do through the friends of ICS initiative, sustainable livelihoods training, income generating activity (I.G.A) center, ICS Annual dinner, proposals writing, membership contributions, well-wishers, and other fundraising events like running/ walking for a course among others.

a)    Sustainable livelihoods

Women in Kenya and other developing countries are generally disadvantaged, those with disability and caregivers of persons with disabilities living in marginalized areas are among Kenya’s most vulnerable groups due to stigma, discrimination, institutionalization, and lack of support. In Nairobi slums, women with disability are often perceived as less valuable than other people in society and more likely to experience poverty and economic challenges.

Statistics show that persons with disabilities, especially women on average, are more likely to experience adverse socioeconomic challenges than persons without disabilities. The biggest factors contributing to this are the physical, attitudinal, and communication barriers, lower levels of education, and discrimination in the limited job market.
Of these women, there are some interested in getting either formal or informal jobs, while others desire to do business. It is for this reason that ICS has designed a sustainable livelihoods program for women with disabilities and women caregivers.

For each of the two groups mentioned hereon, this is how we work with them;

Employment preparation and onboarding training

In our Disability mainstreaming program targeting cooperates and preparing them to be inclusive, we equally endeavor to empower and prepare potential employees with the required relevant skills for the job market. To place themselves strategically for potential employers to identify and recruit them, this program encourages and challenges the participants to strategically put themselves out for the job market.
Some of the specific areas of our training include, how to identify relevant employers, CV writing, the application process for jobs, preparation and successful interview tips, and work ethics among others.

We partner with a team of professionals who give the best training to our participants and continue to mentor them even after they successfully get into the job market.

Business Management training

Starting and running a successful business in most developing countries is very involving and sometimes very difficult for any person. For people with disability, the challenges are double as they have to overcome both the attitudinal and physical barriers from all around them to compete with their counterparts without disability in whatever business they desire to do. Some of our members can make very wonderful products but still experience a lot of challenges in packaging and marketing their products for the business to grow.
Those women with disabilities who are in business or interested in doing business experience challenges of getting seed capital, have limited skills in product promotion/marketing, have poor knowledge of financial literacy, and lack skills in identifying profitable businesses among others.

To bridge this gap, ICS comes in to train on business skills, supports them with seed capital to start individual and group businesses, and supports them with marketing coupled with additional support including mentorships and linkages to affirmative action funds including business funding from the National Council of Persons with Disabilities, women enterprise fund, affirmative action fund from county women representative.
In the same way, we also provide an opportunity for peer-to-peer mentorship, where persons in the same disability category are mentored by another who is successfully doing the business they desire to run.

b)  Income Generating Activities (IGA)

One of the ways we generate income to support the running costs of the organization is through the income-generating activity centre located at Langata. The IGA Centre not only aims at doing an ordinary business and gaining income but in return, we give our clients more, thus, they get unique merchandise and value-added snacks with high nutrition value, immunity boosters, and much more uncountable health benefits as they contribute towards our course of inclusion. We use our IGA canter to market our beneficiaries’ products both at the physical location and online. You can be part of this project by purchasing our IGA center for yourself and loved ones, and you can as well buy a humper and gift one of our target family beneficiaries. Every purchase will go a long way in touching another life and championing the inclusion agenda. Other ways of generating income for the organization are through tailor-made pieces of training and as well as through proposals and fundraising concepts.

c)  Income Generating Activities (IGA)

In October which happens to be our anniversary month, ICS organizes an annual dinner which is a unique gathering of different stakeholders including beneficiaries, management staff, the governing body, sponsors, friends, and potential partners for different programs. During this dinner, we take stock of how where we have come from and make plans for the years ahead. You are welcome to register and attend our annual dinner, and details of the exact date and venue will be shared to your inbox after registration. Come and experience an unforgettable evening with us.