SHAURI YAKO COMMUNITY YOUTH SUPPORT CENTRE

About us

Shauri Yako Community Youth Support Centre (SYSC) works with at-risk members of the Shauri Yako, Manjengo and Kiawara slums in Nyeri, Kenya. Nyeri is the major town and administrative centre of Nyeri county. Approximately 55% of the county's population lives here, making these Kenya's most populous slums.
Youth between 15 and 30 years old make up about 65% of Nyeri's residents. About 90% live in extreme poverty. Too many lack education and employment skills and have been directly affected by HIV/AIDS. Youth are highly marginalized and underserved or overlooked by the national and local government. SYSC works with these youth to provide social and economic opportunities so they may improve their lives.
We offer programs in a range of areas, including job skills training, HIV/AIDS education and care, health promotion, food security, family counselling, youth and women's self-help groups and environmental stewardship. We run a youth drop-in centre to help keep kids off the street and give them a safe place to gather and play. Members of the community regularly use the centre as a place to meet.
While SYSC is a small organization, we accomplish a great deal with limited resources because of the enormous dedication of our staff and volunteers to improving the lives of the people we serve. Between the drop-in centre, SYSC's programs and community meetings, it is estimated that 5,400 people make use of SYSC's centre each year.