Heroes Day (Mashujaa Day) Well Celebrated.

Every 20th October Kenyans celebrates heroes' day also known as Mashujaa day to collectively honour all those who contributed towards the struggle for Kenya's independence and continues to positively contribute in the nations development and honour in different spaces in the post independent Kenya. It was a great honour to host the first skill up session for the girls under the umbrella of She Can - I am a sHERO at Wilsen Initiative (Wi). Read more https://wilsenx.blogspot.com/2022/09/she-can-im-shero-project-under-wilsen.html

The Skill Up Session - 20th October 2022 During the Celebration of Heroes Day (Mashujaa Day).

 A total of 20 girls between the ages of 13 and 15 who plays football attended the session. Our main aim is to inspire, connect and educate (ICE model) girls on how they can live a more responsible lifestyle despite the many challenges faced by young girls living in underserved communities. Short Profile of our Speakers / facilitators Our great facilitators / speakers during the session were; 

Kate Syprine who is a mentor at Dream Program and ex-footballer. Read more of her story https://wilsenx.blogspot.com/2011/09/unknown-heroes.html?m=1 

Esther Mazira, She Can - I am a sHERO co-founder and Data Analyst

 Grace Mbaye Training coordinator and Mentor at Digital Divide Data (DDD).

General Overview Of The Session 

The speakers / facilitators were able to share their insightful journeys from education, career, football for development, personal development just to mention but a few. There was also a special hour that we called (GT = Girls Talk) whereby our speakers / facilitators were able to openly discuss issues that surrounds the girl child and gave insights on how to mitigate the same. 

Some of the main highlights during the discussion were for example;

•  Early teen pregnancy.
• Menstral hygiene, self esteem
• Self awareness
• Open talk. 

 Parents Meeting 

To wrap the day we also hosted a parents and guardians meeting in collaboration with Gudush Soccer Academy. We took the parents through some key points on what we do, what we aspire to achieve and also how they can be one of our support pillars towards the development of children that are engaged in our activities that cut across on and off the football field. 

Appreciation

I take this opportunity to thank everyone who made the day a big success and I look forward to hosting this type of events for both the girl and boy child Even though we might aspire to do more, all our activities are subject to availability of resource and required support and currently we sponsor the activities from our own contribution and support from our friends network. If all is in place we would like to hold this even on a quarterly basis whilst providing sanitary towels and other personal essentials to the girls during the session. We believe by that will enable them stay in school and avoid be luade into other distractive activities. 

 Call To Action

 I invite all my friends, wishers and anyone who wants us to collaborate in this journey to help our sisters pursue their dreams by taking the appropriate steps starting now. 

 "I believe in a society were both the boy and girl child are provided with the right platform and resources to work alone based on special need and also recognize the importance collaboration towards creating a society that wouldn't discriminate any gender. This is a society that will ensure a conducive environment for everyone be what they want to be regardless of their gender" - Wilson Masaka, Youth and Social Entrepreneur

 The Wi-Experience - The Story of Self and Us.

 It is easy think of what you do for yourself and a bit challenging to think of what you can do for others and do together based on values. Wilsen philosophy is based on the three pillars with the overriding theory are YOU towards development as follows; 

1.  What can you do for yourself to become better and not bitter ? (Your story) 
2. What can you do for others (Your Aspirations or Vision Beyond Self) 
3. How can you combine effort together with others to create the change that you wish to see? ( Collaboration and Togetherness). 

 Lastly among many thing that Wilsen initiative (Wi) does we also offer pro-bono services to emerging youth led initiatives that are less than 1 year since inception of their ideas. Part of what we offer in this package are as follows; 

1.  Setting the right organization culture. 
2. Resource mobilization 
3. Training and mentorship Among others! 

Here are some of the highlights of the day in pictures!

The Birth of Wilsen Initiative (Wi)

#TheUntoldFoundersStory #Founders360 

The Light Bulb Moment

Wilsen initiative (Wi) idea started somewhere in 1997 - 2000 during my prime years of playing football, different exposure I have received through education and exchange programs. In my 20+ years journey as the founder and social entrepreneur I can comfortably say the founder's role is much more tougher and challenging compared to that of a manager who has been employed in an already running organization with all the systems in place. I'm talking from both side of the experiences working in managerial position and pursuing my dream as the founder. 

Here Are Few Insights About Wilsen Initiative (Wi) Also Known As The 'Wi-Experience'

As the founder and leader, I'm ready to explore different possibilities towards achieving an accelerated impact through partnerships, innovation and creativity.

The iceberg illusion

"If by any chance there's luck in whatever I do, then I would say it could count for 1% and 99% is all you may not see are for example; the thinking process, many failure, many attempts, many rejections, working hard and smart and so on." - Wilson Masaka Youth Advocate, Social Entrepreneur & Founder / team leader at Wilsen initiative (Wi).

The Founder's Journey 360 degrees!

It Is Either You Start Up or Shut Down!

Early Stages 

The founder’s roles are even tougher when you have to play all the possible roles in your enterprise especially when you don't have the resources to employ the team that could help you with the set up and drive the mission towards the vision point.

The Call Vs. The Job 

As a founder, the call is much bigger and I can go for the next extra miles without expecting a pay but I believe one day I will be able to get the full support to enable me recruit a team that will work with me around the clock towards realizing the vision. At the moment we have to soldier on with the little resources we can access and strive to achieve the best impact.  The question is, how many years should one spend at the level of being called early stage start-up? 

My idea has been around for more than 20+ years and despite the many challenges one being fundraising I'm not thinking of shutting down anytime because everything is done out of genuine passion towards living the full circle as envisioned in the dream.

The Journey

So before you quit, ask yourself why you started?  

Just a summary of the Wilsen initiative (Wi)

I have been able to initiated different activities to support both the children and youth especially in football and education. I'm an advocate of SDG1: No poverty, SDG4: Quality education and lifelong learning and SDG8: Decent work and economic growth.

Below is a summary of my achievement under Wilsen Initiative (Wi);

• 2010 -2017-  During this period I was employed and I could save some money to support my idea and off course my family and friends offered great support. The year 2017 I lost my job but the passion even grew bigger to do more.
  
  
• In 2012 - I got an opportunity to attend the Dekeyser fellowship in Hamburg, Germany this was a great opportunity that enabled me to sharpen the idea further around the change I would wish to see taking place in my community. The fellowship offered great skills in fundraising, media, project management just to mention but a few.
  
  
•   2013 - I got a full scholarship to attend the Amani Institute fellowship in Kenya. This was a God sent opportunity at the right time towards sharpening my idea further. A lot of research work, insights from my fellows, case studies etc. Anyway, to date I can say I have done a lot but there's more that is still on the plate yet to be done especially in acquiring funds that would enable me to go the full cycle.

Appreciation : Friend-raising = Fundraising 

I want to thank all my friends and family members who have supported all my calls by offering great advise, the funds, the time, material support etc. I look forward to add many new friends into to my network for possible ways of working together. My profile on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilson-masaka-4b39439

I want to also appreciate all the volunteers that have worked with me and those that continue to believe in the cause despite the challenges especially in raising the resources that could help us in the implementation process.

In case you didn't know,  at Wilsen Initiative (Wi) we are open to meaningful collaborations, linkages, co-fundraising etc.  

You are most welcome to support one or all the Wilsen initiative (Wi) pillars. All our programs are subject to availability of funds and required support.

 

Youth On the Move Designing The Future That They Wish To See.

I'm very impressed with the work Paamoja initiative is doing, especially on meaningful youth engagement, quality education and creating community solutions based on Research and Development (R&D) strategies. 

 It was a great honor to be engaged as the main facilitator during the Decent Income Youth Empowerment Program (DIYEP) launch and capacity building training for the trainers (TOT) who will be in charge of the training at Paamoja Initiative. 

Summary notes of the TOT; 

1. Shared insights on lesson planning.
2. How to engage the participants in a meaningful ways.
3.  Planning and documentation during the training life cycle. 
4. Quality of a great trainer and how trainers can improve and be inspired to do more. 
5. We shared our experiences as trainers. 
6. The 4 E's meaning Entry, Evaluation, Exit and Expectations. 
7. How to engage participants by using appropriate training methodologies and best facilitation practices.
8. Learn to Learn; How creativity plays a role in how we learn. And many more... 

During my conversation with the founder of Paamoja initiative Titus aka Tito Papito who is a seasonal social entrepreneur and community advocate, I captured this profound insights...

 " As an expert on youth and community development, I don't want to sit in a corner and create ideas on what I think should happen in improving the community. What I practice and I have ensured is also inculcated in all our operations is to go for every voice as it's expressed by the people living in the community that we want to impact through our program. 

Once we have all the data from the target groups is when we can evaluate, analyze and formulate a point of view. The next steps that follows is to design targeted and meaning programs as per the findings during the research process and this is how DIYEP was born. 

We have developed different research methodologies and tools for tapping every single voice of our target group as the primary source of getting ideas of creating solutions and I would urge other innovators to consider this approach that starts from the user's perspective" - Titus, founder Paamoja initiative and social entrepreneur. 

Thanks for the opportunity to learn more about your program and I wish you all the best of luck during the implementation phase of the DIYEP program. 

Keep the great work and all the best to all the trainers, Jesse Jacktone, Nashon Luvohwa,  Titus Kuria and everyone involved in the program. 

 Do More /Be More / Be Different More about me >> www.wilsenx.blogspot.com #Move92 #DIYEP2022 #sustainablelivelihoods PaaMoja Initiative #youthempowerment #SDG1NoPoverty #SDG4QualityEducation #sdg5genderequality #SDG8DecentWorkEconomicGrowth