A lobby group in Mombasa County has launched a project seeking to improve lives of thousands of homeless people in Mombasa County.
Human Rights Agenda (Huria) launched the project that will aim at tapping talent, identifying and nurturing skill and development to help street families.
Huria Executive Director Yusuf Lule Mwatsefu said the project will target 3,400 people who are homeless and living in the Central Business District’s garbage sites and narrow street alleys.
He said they will provide street families with unlimited opportunities to utilise their skills so they can contribute to development of the county.
Mwatsefu said the project will train and mentor young talent in order to prevent the youth from being idle and wasting their talents.
“Through this initiative, we will seek to strengthen capabilities of the street families through training and linkages to economic empowerment opportunities,” he said.
“The project will also seek to improve the dignity for street families and respect for their rights and freedoms,” he added.
According to the director who was speaking in Mombasa, the number of street families especially the youth in the town has increased due to poverty and drugs, adding that many youth are a soft target of extremists who want them to join terror groups.
Mwatsefu said the project will create awareness that will help the youth to avoid people who give them radical ideologies about religion which could lead to acts of violence and terrorism.
“The youth in this country have a responsibility of shunning radicalisation and extremism which has caused loss of innocent lives,” he said.