Photo: A teenage mother completes vocational training with CFK Africa (Photo credit: CFK Africa).
Carolina for Kibera (CFK Africa), with funding support from the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation, has launched Women at Work, a new initiative designed to equip women living in Kenya’s informal settlements with practical skills for higher-paying, traditionally male-dominated trades.
The programme, which will begin implementation in early 2026, targets teenage mothers and other women in slum communities who are often excluded from technical and vocational career pathways.
Through hands-on training in fields such as plumbing, electrical work, and auto mechanics, Women at Work seeks to expand access to stable income opportunities that are typically unavailable to women because of gender norms and social stigma.
“The best way to learn a job is by doing it,” said CFK Africa Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Okoro.
“By pairing these young women with experienced women mentors in their fields, we can build the next generation of skilled women workers.”
At the core of the initiative is a mentorship-based training model. Participants will learn directly alongside master craftswomen who are already established and skilled in their respective trades.
This approach allows trainees to gain real-world experience while benefiting from mentorship, professional guidance, and exposure to working environments where women are often underrepresented.
CFK Africa says the model is designed to address a persistent gap in vocational training, where certification does not always translate into employment.
By embedding learning within actual workplaces and linking trainees to mentors who have navigated similar challenges, the organisation aims to improve participants’ chances of securing paid work after training.
Women at Work builds on CFK Africa’s TechCraft programme, launched last year to boost the earning potential of young people in Kibera and other informal settlements through job-oriented skills training.
While TechCraft focused broadly on youth employability, the new initiative places a specific emphasis on women, recognising the additional structural barriers they face in accessing technical careers.
The pilot phase of Women at Work will be implemented across five informal settlements in Kenya and will support 80 young women, including teenage mothers.
In addition to technical and vocational skills training, participants will receive assistance in identifying job opportunities, apprenticeships, and other pathways into related fields to support long-term economic stability.
CFK Africa notes that women in informal settlements often face overlapping challenges, including limited access to education, unpaid care responsibilities, and reliance on low-paying informal work.
For teenage mothers in particular, these constraints can make it difficult to pursue training that leads to sustainable employment.
The programme also aims to challenge community perceptions around women’s roles in skilled manual work.
By positioning women as both learners and mentors in trades such as plumbing and auto mechanics, Women at Work seeks to normalise women’s participation in technical fields and expand what is seen as possible for girls and young women in slum communities.
Support for the initiative comes through the Weyerhaeuser Family Foundation’s International Initiative, which focuses on advancing opportunity, equity, and well-being for women and girls in developing countries.
The foundation prioritises programmes that help women overcome hardship, reach their potential, and strengthen their families and communities.
“When it comes to vocational skills, there is no better teacher than an experienced worker and no better education than a job,” Okoro added.
“Through hands-on training, this new program aims to empower young women by creating opportunities for long-term economic security.”
As Kenya continues to face high levels of youth unemployment and persistent gender gaps in income and labour market access, CFK Africa says initiatives such as Women at Work demonstrate the importance of targeted, community-based solutions.
By combining practical skills training with mentorship and employment support, the organisation hopes to contribute to more inclusive economic participation for women in some of the country’s most underserved communities.
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