Nairobi is a buzzing capital, home to almost three million inhabitants. It is one of the biggest cities in Africa, and as such the working area of a lively civil society. Especially the city’s poor areas have a high demand for community activities. The “Mathare Youth Sport Association“ (MYSA), established in 1987, is a highly active organisation, reaching up to 20,000 people with its programmes, aiming to involve the people of Mathare in various activities. MYSA works in the fields of football and community services like AIDS prevention, environment clean-up, slum libraries, child labour, kids with disabilities etc. Furthermore, MYSA raises awareness on football as a medium for global understanding, through exchange of experience and exchange on an international level.

The two GLEN participants work with MYSA in the fields of photography, film-making, graphic design and PR activities. They mainly support the MYSA documentation project “shoot back”. This project gives young inhabitants of Mathare the possibility to show their living environment from their own perspective, using photographs or video.
The interns document MYSA activities in video and photography and teach children and teenagers in the "shootback class". The interns are free to choose topics for the shootback class according to their own ideas, depending on their interests, knowledge and fields of studies. They can organise an exhibition, teach photography, video or script writing, make a book, animation, documentary or help them how to use new media (internet platforms, blogs,...). As the older shootbacks have a high knowledge of photography, an intern who is spezialised in any kind of video/movie making, especially script writing, would be highly welcome. In the sector of PR, know-how is needed in how to proceed with MYSA's pictures and movies, where to show them and how to place the work in the media.
The GLEN participants should enjoy working with children and know how to work independently as well as how to plan a project in teamwork with shootback members. The shootback internship is mainly a creative exchange. The GLEN participants are expected to contribute with creative ideas and experience.

The training and preparation seminars before the internship take place in English. The GLEN team will be composed of one German/Swiss and one Czech participant.

The scheduled time for the internship is 3 months between July and October 2010.

Proposed by: Peter Ndolo (MYSA) and Viola Kup (GLEN participant 2009)

The mission of Vijana Amani Pamoja is to integrate social and economic values and to create a pro-active health environment through football. VAP works with HIV/Aids infected and affected youth from the underpriviledged areas of Nairobi. It uses the power of football in the fight against Aids thus providing Kenyan youth with the knowledge and skills to live HIV-free. Many of these children come from families living in extreme poverty and have lost one or both parents to HIV/Aids. The disease's prevalence continues to grow in Kenya despite various efforts to prevent it. Young people aged 14-25 are particularly at risk for engaging in dangerous behavior and contracting Aids. By using football as an educational tool, VAP uses innovative methods to attract young people and teaches them effective methods and skills for preventing the spread of HIV. Since its creation in 2004, VAP has been holding workshops and training programmes for over 5,300 young people from various schools and community centres.

In its training programmes, VAP uses the “Skillz HIV/Aids Prevention programme”, a series of games and activities that allow youth to explore sensitive issues relating to HIV/Aids and acquire the necessary skills to live healthy lives. These skills include critical thinking, communication, self-esteem and decision-making among others. The Skillz programme requires active participation and creates a safe, team-based environment in which participants can comfortably share their feelings, beliefs and ideas about HIV/Aids. Part of the Skillz educators are local soccer players.

VAP has been collaborating with streetfootballworld for the last four years and has been receiving funding from the FIFA for the last two years.

The GLEN participants are given the opportunity to work freely in the organisation in their areas of interest. According to their abilities they may want to participate as peer educators in the trainings, HIV research, website development, fundraising, monitoring, evaluation or marketing. Fundraising skills are highly welcome.

The scheduled time for the internship is three months between July and October 2010.

The training and preparation seminars before the internship will take place in English. The GLEN team will be composed of one German/Swiss and one Estonian participant. In order to strengthen the Baltic sea cooperation, German applications from Hamburg are particularly welcome.


Proposed by: Enouce Ndeche (VAP)

The Maasai Mara National Reserve, located in South-western Kenya, is the Northern continuation of the Serengeti National Park game reserve in Tanzania. While being famous for its exceptional population of game, the park's biodiversity is also strongly affected by environmental changes and pollution created both on a global and a local level.
The “Green Warriors Movement” (GWM) is a non-profit conservation movement, which it based in the Maasai Mara National Reserve. GWM was initiated by young Maasai warriors in 2005 in order to create a sense of ownership for the local flora and fauna in the community. GWM undertakes environmental conservation activities on grassroots level, like clean-up exercises and tree planting. Apart from this practical work in the National Reserve, GWM also engages in community education in order to raise awareness for environmental questions. In this field GWM organises educational tours, interactive learning workshops, community meetings and environmental camps. The community education aims at empowering the youths and other members of the community to bring a behavioural change and a better awareness for the necessity of the protection of the biodiversity at stake.

The GLEN participants facilitate the community education programmes and work together with GWM in organising the tree planting activities. They are also involved in the ongoing waste management project, which involves collecting litter for recycling. The interns assist in planning how the waste will be collected from the hotels (using donkey carts) and transported to Nairobi for recycling.
GWM would also highly welcome the participants' involvement and ideas in planning the projects set for the next year. These projects are: Maasai Mara Safe Water Project, Mara ICT learning Centre and the Panthera Mara Marathon. The Marathon will raise money for environmental conservation efforts and community development in Maasai Mara National Reserve.

Especially for the work in community education, some basic Kiswahili skills are expected from the participants. If necessary, GWM will provide a translator from Kiswahili to English.

The scheduled time for the internship is July to September 2010.

The training and preparation seminars before the internship take place in English. The GLEN team will be composed of one German/ Swiss and one Czech participant.

Proposed by: Cyrus Gachanja Ndoro, Amos Ole Tininah (Green Warriors) and Sophia Kleyboldt, Jiri Panek (GLEN participants 2009)

The organisation “Jambo Volunteers” was created in 2009 and collaborates with the local self-help-groups of the communities of Kibera slums and Maasailand in Kajiado. Kibera slums are the biggest in East Africa and are located 7 km away from Nairobi. The people living in Kibera depend on one dollar per day. The general aim of the projects of the two local self-help groups is to improve the lives of the people of Kenya and particularly the communities in Kibera and Maasailand. The concrete projects of Jambo Volunteers include development of infrastructure of schools, establishment of a community training centre as a central meeting place and creation of job opportunities to prevent prostitution and drug abuse in the villages.

The GLEN participants take part in the Jambo Volunteers’ educational programm and in the community development projects of the area. In the field of education, the participants are expected to teach in the primary schools of the area. According to the participants' abilities, they can give lessons in a variety of fields: Maths, English, Social Studies, Physical Education, Science and Art. Details of the school curriculum will be discussed with the participants prior to their arrival, so that they can start to prepare a teaching program beforehand. Once the participants have arrived they will have the opportunity to prepare and introduce new teaching materials.

Jambo Volunteers is also active in the local nursery schools. Here, the interns may organise educative games and leisure activities with the children. In the field of community development, the participants can assist in the marketing of arts and crafts in the community center.

The participants cooperate closely with the local teaching staff. They should be open to integrate and to learn from the local context. A background in education or youth work and basic knowledge of teaching are expected. The applicants should be creative, able to work independently and have a high command of English.

The scheduled time for the internship is July to September 2010.

The training and preparation seminars before the internship take place in English. The GLEN team will be composed of one German/ Swiss and one Maltese/ Slovenian participant.


Proposed by: Luis Del Alamo (Jambo Volunteers)