Economic Recovery

Economic Recovery

At Oak Solutions Centre we work closely with the vulnerable refugees, women and the youth to develop life skills and empower them in overcoming social, economic and environmental challenges. Livelihoods allow people to secure the basic necessities of life such as food, water, shelter and clothing. Engaging in livelihoods activities involves acquiring the knowledge, skills, social network, raw materials, and other resources to meet individual or collective needs on a sustainable basis in a dignified and productive environment which enables the vulnerable to live in peace. Our approach is a hybrid of the Graduation model targeting families living in poverty and the Pathfinder model with a focus on post- secondary training.

Key livelihoods interventions include:

• Improved access to specialized trainings that prepare, women, youth and refugees to actively engage and market their skills and capabilities in the digital economy
• Access to information and communications technologies provision of vocational and technical skills training opportunities
• Improved access to self-employment/business.

In addition to the scale of consumption increasing with income, the composition of what people consume changes, which could either exacerbate or offset their environmental footprint.

Projects

i. Sustainable Livelihoods for Urban Refugees and Host Communities

Oak Solutions main objective is Self- Reliance, being a quality of depending on yourself, your abilities to get through the challenges of life on the back of your own resourcefulness. Being self-reliant allows you to survive the harshest of environments by developing certain character traits:

• Perseverance-You keep going through thick and thin
• Self-Discipline-Being able to control your behavior’s in order to improve your actions
• Hardworking-Believing in the value of dedication
• Dependability-The ability of gaining trust, keeping your word and doing what you say
• Reliability-Being consistent in everything you undertake

The smartest way to solve the world’s toughest challenges is by investing in livelihood and self-reliance programs.The desire for self-reliance challenges the common preconception that the vulnerable persons are a burden on host communities. By fulfilling their potential and sharing their talents, refugees, women and the youth fully contribute to the growth, strength, and stability of communities.

1. Oak Solutions conducts Capacity building trainings on self-reliance and its components: Accepting yourself, and being your own best friend, Inner confidence, making our own decisions, Recognize and manage dependence, accept yourself for who you are, having your own values, not relying on ‘things’ to feel happiness, decide who you want to be, and how you want to get there – Life Strategic Plan.
2. Capacity Strengthening: Oak Solutions promotes purpose driven unity where persons with different ideas and abilities in the society access consolidated opportunities and become self-reliant through formation and Capacity building of accountability groups. Identity forums aims to arm the members with life skills to empower them in overcoming Social, Economic challenges and combat Stigma after incarceration. Further the forums aim to facilitate clearance with the relevant government department and issuance of a certificate of good conduct.
3. Microfinance: Oak  Solutions increases access to financial literacy and entrepreneurship. The System of formal institutional credit to the viable is a pertinent tool in achieving financial inclusion and economic empowerment. Oak Solutions promotes formation of Village Savings and Loan Association(VSLA) to empower participants increase access and control over resources and use collective power to overcome social and financial barriers.

ii. Digital Innovation, Journalism and Media

 

 

 

 

The operation embraces innovation approaches in technology, business development, information and communication to enable beneficiaries have a competitive edge and penetrate new local, regional and international markets. At the current, incremental pace of economic and social advancement, the vulnerable population will be denied the opportunity to live up to their potential. Digital technologies offer a chance to disrupt this trajectory – unlocking new pathways for rapid economic growth, innovation, job creation and access to services which would have been unimaginable only a decade ago.

 

At Oak Solutions Centre we believe, in the years to come, a digital ecosystem of data platforms will be crucial to helping our neighborhoods understand and combat a host of environmental hazards. Oak Solutions is in the process of seeking private and public sector actors to harness data and digital technologies to accelerate environmental action.

1. Digital Skills: To promote access to the rapidly growing digital economy opportunities such as ICT innovations, web design and development, UX and UI design, digital art creation including NFTs Art design and marketing strategies, and coding skills. This will promote economic inclusion and self-reliance for refugees who are currently unable to access formal employment due to documentation requirements.
2. Journalism & Media: Creating issue-oriented content that engages refugees and host community with the objective of producing informative and inspiring content that transforms lives; graphic design, transcription, videography, photography, digital marketing and events coverage. This strategic communications approach focuses not only on success stories, but also on the journeys, failures and adaptations made along the way. The voices of those who have been displaced and the innovators are central to the stories we tell.
3. Innovation Hub: To promote innovation, creativity and engagement using the Design Thinking approach used for practical and creative problem-solving from defining the problem, need-finding and benchmarking, ideating, building prototypes, testing and exploring new paths for problems/challenges.Mobilize innovation initiatives. Collaboratively convene, Conduct research, increase competitiveness and widen influence.

iii. Mrembo Effect

The empowerment of women is all about rights and equitable societies. Mrembo Effect goal is to accelerate progress on meeting women’s needs by advocating, designing and implementing programs that raise the status of women to be confident and respected in their communities. Read more 

The Oak Solutions Centre Team and the Livelihood (Refugees economic self-reliance) beneficiaries during a training on networking and building alliances and awarding of business grants supported by HIAS –Kenya.

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