Announcement

The LifeWorks Partnership

Preventing HIV through Job Creation

 | Thursday, May 03, 2007

Background:  The junction of long distance truck drivers and poor host communities, where unemployment reaches 70 percent, creates a “perfect storm” for driving the AIDS epidemic.  Studies suggest that truck drivers have HIV prevalence of at least two times national averages and up to 80 percent of women in some corridor communities engage in sex work with drivers, police and others out of economic desperation.   Family Health International assessed the service needs in corridor towns and found that:

• Women in these communities by and large live lives of or on the edge of severe poverty; their efforts at income generation are often only marginally productive
• Credit mechanisms are mostly informal and inadequate and are often inaccessible to women living with HIV

Approach:   With an Advisory Council of regional business leaders co-chaired by the Managing Directors of General Motors East Africa and Unilever Kenya Limited, LifeWorks  is catalyzing the business sector to create jobs for vulnerable women and older orphans in transport corridor communities. LifeWorks, an independent entity registered in Kenya, partners with the HIV and AIDS programs implemented by Family Health International through the USAID/East Africa-financed Regional Outreach Addressing AIDS through Development Strategies (ROADS) Project. It capitalizes on relationships with groups from vulnerable populations developed by the ROADS Project in transport corridor communities referred to as “SafeTStops”, creating small and medium-sized private sector businesses in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, Southern Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Djibouti and Ethiopia.  It also capitalizes on U.S. Government programs funded by the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

LifeWorks provides business assistance and access to capital and promotes use of appropriate business models.  Areas of job creation include light manufacturing, home furnishings and fashion accessories, agribusiness, and information and communication technologies.

Next steps:  Six SafeTStop sites will pilot the LifeWorks approach:  Mariakani, Malaba, Mlolongo, and Busia in Kenya and Malaba and Busia in Uganda.  These initial sites were selected due to their high rate of trans-regional traffic; linkages with PEPFAR and other development programs including those that facilitate regional traffic flow and customs collections; and community willingness to participate.

Progress to date:

• The LifeWorks Shamba in Malaba, Kenya, a franchise operation promoting intensive farming for nutrition and income on 8.5 acres of land donated by the city council, is already providing food and training for nearly 5,000 AIDS affected families (25,000 people).
• A master tailor has been hired and has begun training ten of the forty vulnerable women and older orphans who will produce upscale fashion accessories and outsourced products in Mariakani in factory space donated by a major East Africa business, Mabati Rolling Mills.  A Peace Corps Volunteer with 20 years of business experience will manage the operation and technical assistance has been provided by a leading textile exporter.  A major East African hotel chain has agreed to buy initial production for its hotels across the region.
• In Busia, Kenya small production groups consisting of 180 caregivers have been formed to grow mushrooms for the domestic market.  A Peace Corps Volunteer also with many years of business experience will manage this operation.  Mumias Sugar Company has agreed to donate baggasse for the substrate needed for mushroom production. 
• A “go down” or small factory is being constructed by General Motors and Unilever volunteers in Mlolongo, Kenya where a number of production components identified by collaborating companies will be manufactured by local target groups.  TransAmi has donated a container to be used a part of the go down.
• Global Development Alliances valuing nearly $1,000,000 have been signed by General Motors, Unilever and USAID in support of LifeWorks startup in the six pilot communities.
• Business and financial assistance partnerships are being forged with K-Rep, TechnoServe, and TSBF (ICRAFT). 
• Family Health International has hired a full time business advisor to support the Advisory Business Council. 
• Consultants have inventoried other SafeTStop sites and target groups across the region for opportunities and have identified a range of products and business opportunities. The next step will be the solicitation of regional businesses, foundations and other donors for funding to create an “Angel Fund” to support LifeWorks management and activities.
• LifeWorks has established a US-based fund-raising mechanism to promote tax-benefit donations by interested social investors.

Business plans for the home and fashion accessories and mushroom project are available upon request. 

The LifeWorks website is available at www.lifeworkspartnership.org