Neighborhood clean up and Recycling Centre Justin and Sean in front of the recycling center they finished building last year in the slum of Kibera.

Action Grant: Support Justin, a Canadian youth who has raised $17,000 of the $37,000 needed to build waste sorting and recycling centres in three Nairobi slums. These centres will serve a network of youth groups, starting with those participating in the Urban Entrepreneurship Program, in their waste management businesses.

Business concept
Justin and his friends Sean and Nathaniel raised over $15, 000 through sales of calendars and came to Nairobi in 2008 to build a recycling centre for The Soweto Youth Group in Kibera, one of Africa's largest slums. This year he wants to go back and support three other youth groups to create recycling centres that can repurpose the plastics, metals, glass and compost. There is a local market for those materials, but the groups have to gather enough to interest local materials dealers.

Money raised so far:
$17,000 of $37,000 has been raised through donations and sales of photographs.

Background information
It is very common for youth groups in Nairobi to earn income by collecting waste since the municipal government does not collect from slum areas. The youth groups generally charge for the service of moving the waste from the household to the collection point where the group must pay city hall for it to be trucked away. 13 of 15 UEP youth groups collect and sort municipal waste. Three of these groups will be selected when the fundraising goal is met to manage the centres. These groups will be required to open their facility to any other UEP group who wants to use it.

Learn more about the project on the CBC news website.

Donate Now via PayPal or Canadagives (for a Canadian tax receipt).