Announcement
Preventing HIV through Job Creation
LifeWorks Partnership creates opportunities along major transport corridor
Mariakani, Kenya
|
Thursday, October 04, 2007
)/images/Photo.250.1200.aspx)
Photo: USAID/Janet Bland
Family Health International Director Gail Goodridge with some of the men and women working at the LifeWorks Shukrani Home and Accessories Facility.
Mariakani, Kenya, October 3, 2007 — U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael E. Ranneberger dedicated an innovative program to address HIV prevention through the creation of employment opportunities for vulnerable women along the major transport corridors in East and Central Africa in Mariakani on Wednesday, October 3.
The LifeWorks Partnership seeks to leverage public-private and foundation resources to create commercially viable business enterprises and sustainable jobs for women and youth. LifeWorks Partnership will provide business assistance, access to capital and promote use of appropriate business models.
With financial support from the United States Government’s President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through Family Health International, LifeWorks Partnership is catalyzing small- and medium-sized private-sector businesses to create jobs for vulnerable communities in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Coordinated by an Advisory Council of regional business leaders co-chaired by the Chief Executives of General Motors East Africa and Unilever Kenya Ltd, LifeWorks Partnership is the brainchild of health and business professionals to create jobs as the missing link in HIV prevention. While the businesses provide jobs for the most at-risk individuals in the community, the companies themselves will address HIV prevention through their corporate social responsibility programs.
LifeWorks Partnership is a key component of the Regional Outreach Addressing AIDS through Development Strategy (ROADS) Project, a five-year, nine-country HIV program along major transport routes in East and Central Africa.
United States Ambassador to Kenya Michael E. Ranneberger officiated at the dedication. Other speakers included Hirji Shah, a Director of Mabati Rolling Mills, William Lay, General Motors East Africa Chief Executive and Francis Lenyangume, Kaloleni District Commissioner.
In Kenya, LifeWorks Partnership has established a production unit for home and fashion accessories at Mariakani. The factory space donated by Mabati Rolling Mills Ltd. is training most at-risk women and youth to manufacture upscale products for sale at tourist hotels and export markets in the United States and Europe.