Project: Foundation Builders International Institute- Kenya
Executive Summary
Summary of Foundation Builders International Institute – Kenya
Phase 1
Foundation Builders International, Inc. started in 2016 to teach vocational skills in emerging nations per the International Building Code, TVET standards, and US trade certification requirements. Our students receive training and practical applications to equip them to pass the certification tests in their vocation. Our commitment to the students is to work with them even after graduation to ensure their desire to receive a certification. For each location where a training center opens, The name will be Foundation Builders International Institute – (name of location).
Since the beginning of Foundation Builders International, Inc., we have added personal finance and money management courses to the vocational classes that all students will take. Those students showing the desire and aptitude towards business will receive training in business development and management. These students will manage the enterprises the Institute starts to help the local community. The students will ultimately be creating their SME with help from FBII.
The goal for each Institute is to train the students, prepare the national teachers to be the primary teaching staff at the Institute, and work with community leaders to develop businesses that meet community needs for employment, retail markets, and manufacturing. The Institute, through its community coordinator, develops an ongoing relationship with community leaders, the Ministry of Education, business leaders, and other NGOs working in the area to ensure the Institute is a positive part of the local community and is economically sustainable. Our graduating students will be well-equipped to handle workplace and marketplace challenges. Through part of their financial training, they will understand the value of ethics and honesty in life's pursuits.
Since beginning our work in Kenya, we have obtained all our government documents to operate a non-profit educational training center. We have also secured our NGO status with the Kenyan government. We are gathering the funding for the Foundation Builders International-Kenya campus. The goal is to complete the initial site work and construct the educational buildings by early 2024. We are creating the initial facility in the Nyale Investments LTD compound in Nairobi. The facility design uses four 40 ft. sea containers fabricated into the classroom. We will receive students once the educational facility is completed and equipped with classroom furnishings and equipment. The beginning vocational courses will be welding, metal fabrication, general construction, carpentry, electrical, and HVAC.
This campus will model what we can do in other locations through satellite campuses. Once the Institute is functioning and we can demonstrate the success of our students and the need for vocational training, we will lease or purchase a warehouse in the industrial area of Nairobi to expand the institution and course schedules.
Details and costs for the Foundation Builders International Institute – Kenya are listed on the website in the Proposal.
Introduction
Vocational skills
One major challenge to addressing the skills gap is the lack of quality vocational training. The skills needed in Kenya’s energy and mining sectors are usually acquired through informal technical and vocational education and training institutions.
Most polytechnics (higher education institutions with courses mostly in vocational or technical subjects) only offer artisan welding courses. The welding that is done in the petroleum sector is much more complex. For example, Kenya lacks skilled welders who can work on a live oil pipeline. This is a massive setback as Kenya hoped to begin crude oil exportation in 2019.
Project Goals
Goal
Promote socio-economic development through vocational training and business development, providing the skills to qualify for job opportunities and livelihood sustainability.
Objectives
FBII-Kenya- Institute
Based on our analysis of vocational training needs in Nairobi, the specific objectives for the Foundation Builders International Institute-Kenya will start with offering one course and expand to cover our entire curriculum. The goals for the first course are:
- To begin with, a maximum of 25 students
- To start welding, metal fabrication, and blueprint reading along with mathematics and design classes offering certificates of completion showing skill levels to pass the TVET or American Welding Society qualification test.
- To teach all vocational classes per the International Building Code (IBC)
- Work with each student until they pass the TVET or AWS qualification test.
- To teach basic economics and personal financial sustainability.
- To teach business development.
FBII-Enterprise
As the Institute begins to train its first-year students in welding and metal fabrication, an enterprise that converts used sea containers into modular residential and commercial uses will be set up and operational by the end of year one in student training. The Enterprise will employ students to give them practical application of their vocational and business operations skills.
Beyond the Enterprise working side by side with the Institute, the students will also have the opportunity to employ their vocational skills and project management understanding to build projects in the community. These projects will be developed in collaboration with local government, community groups, and other NGOs. FBII-Kenya will provide the construction management oversight to ensure the construction’s quality, funding, payroll management, and timely project completion.
Investment Required
| FBII-Kenya Staff Expenses | Year 2024 | |
| Phase 1 Year 2024 | Expenses | |
| Educational Staff Cost | ||
| Director of Vocational Instruction | $20,000.00 | |
| Director of Institute Business School | $15,000.00 | |
| Principal of the Institute | $20,000.00 | |
| Community Coordinator (Kenyan) | $9,600.00 | |
| Secretary (Kenyan) | $5,292.00 | |
| Facilitators (US) 2 facilitators per instructional week | weekly salary of $1000 = $2000 per week | $44,000.00 |
| Facilitators (Kenyan) | paid at TVET teacher levels $165 per week | $7,260 |
| Teachers (US) 22 instructional weeks | Six teachers: $1000 per instructional week = $6000 | $132,000.00 |
| Teachers (Kenyan) | Six teachers are paid at TVET levels $100 per week | $13,200 |
| Home Office | lease | $12,000.00 |
| Institute office supplies | $20,600.00 | |
| utilities | $5,500.00 | |
| taxes | $2,500.00 | |
| accounting and payroll | $6,000.00 | |
| US Staff | ||
| Travel | ||
| Average cost $1200 x 10 staff x 6 trips | $72,000.00 | |
| Lodging | ||
| $50 per night x 10 x 81 nights | $40,500.00 | |
| Food | ||
| $30 per day x 10 temporay staff x 81 days | $24,300.00 | |
| Benefits | ||
| Fulltime staff | NHIF Health Insurance 4 fulltime staff x $45.00 | $2,160.00 |
| Dean of Instruction | ||
| Director of Institute Business School | ||
| Community Coordinator | ||
| Secretary | ||
| Staffing Totals | $451,912.00 | |
The initial facility will have four sea containers repurposed into classrooms and storage areas.
The cost of the facility Is $14681.89
The cost for the Welding Shop $76,187.28
The cost of staffing 2024 $451,912.00
The Classroom Furnishings
2 75" TV $1600.00
26 Lecture Chairs $800.00
2 Instructor desk and chair $400
Interactive video and security system $10,000.00
Action Taken
In addition to completing the government requirements to operate in Kenya, the board of Directors for FBII-Kenya has been established. The board comprises Kenyan business leaders, bankers and educators, and Foundation Builders International, Inc. board of Directors leaders.
The teaching staff has been assembled and is ready to receive the first cohort of students. We have certified instructors from the American Welding Society and various trades to allow our students to take the certification exams with the represented trade organizations.
Success factors
Foundation Builders International worked in Port au Prince, Haiti, for several years before the political unrest made it impossible to operate the Institute safely. We focused on welding, concrete, rebar design and fabrication, carpentry, and blueprint reading. When the Institute was open, we used a local facility donated to us to train our cohorts of students. Our students were young men eager to learn a skill or increase their knowledge.
Here is what a local contractor had to say about our courses.
(Boss Loulou) said that the Foundation Builders School teachings were excellent. I learned things that I never knew. The training was different from the former training that I received. They focused on international code and practical application. I felt that as a construction contractor, it helped me immensely. I improved on my cages and form-making. Also, I learned how to fabricate wooden trusses better. Those I have contracted to build see that my work is different and better than other contractors, opening doors for more work. Overall, I feel that it has built my confidence and abilities.
Even in Haiti’s challenging environment, our students are given a sense of empowerment through the skills they receive. After completing our welding courses, one of our welding students had this to say.
Adancy - I learned proper welding techniques and how to prepare better and plan my welding projects. I now have a better understanding of welding principles. Yet, I cannot perfect them as I would like because I cannot find work in my field. Yet, I know that I am better prepared for future work projects. I am delighted with what I learned and would recommend others in the future to participate in Foundation Builders school. I hope that in the future, I can further my studies with them in welding and fabrication.
Through developing their vocational and business skills, FBII-Kenya students will experience the importance of peacebuilding, reconciliation, conflict resolution, civic responsibility, and enterprise development. They will understand the connection between ethics and prosperity. Learn the importance of personal responsibility in work and business. Through the economics course, they will develop the skills of a responsible citizen.
Challenges faced
We are starting with twenty-five students in the first cohort. We know this does not cover the needs in Nairobi for vocational training. The big challenge is developing adequate facilities for vocational and business training demand.
The second challenge is training the nationals to teach vocational and business skills at the level of competency we require of our teachers. We will be training teachers as we teach our students. The five-year goal we strive to meet is the Institute is fully staffed by nationals in five years. This aggressive goal requires us to train and hire teachers and administrators who meet the Foundation Builders International, Inc. standards of excellence.
Project Achievements
FbII-Kenya has completed all the government requirements and is recognized as a non-profit corporation in Kenya. We have also received our NGO status to operate in Kenya. Our NGO status shows we meet the accounting and reporting practices required by the Kenyan government.
FBII-Kenya has a pending lease for the facility site at the Nyale Investment Ltd compound at Airport South Road, Nairobi City, Kenya. The design for the first phase facility is completed.
The first cohort of twenty-five students is waiting for the doors to open and their training to begin.
Foundation Builders International Institute is also a member of the Global Giving Community. As a member of Global Giving, it shows that we operate according to the standard accounting practices required by Global Giving.
Macro Social & Economic Impact
The strategy for Foundation Builders International-Kenya contains several vital components involving the students receiving vocational training and primary economic education. The second component is entrepreneurial skill development and enterprise development.
Cross-Cutting Strategy
Youth Involvement in Educational Strategies
- Gaining life skills is equally essential to acquiring vocational skills. Each student starts with an aptitude test to assess their educational level and help them decide which vocational skill they will be most compatible with. The student’s involvement in this process helps them identify their needs and support their choices. The information also helps the staff and students plan, implement, and control their development process. All these facets of the student’s vocational training and economic courses build their self-esteem and confidence.
Involving Communities and Other Key Players
- The second phase encompasses starting an SME once the Institute is established. The SME will develop a management team of Institute staff, business students, and local business leaders to develop emerging business leaders, manufacturing using students in vocational training, product quality, marketing, and distribution. The business students will analyze the local community for business opportunities. From the data analysis, students and business instructors will work with the local community to determine what SME best pares the vocational skills available through the Institute students with the most immediate needs of the community. The SME team will also work with governmental agencies focused on developing the local economy.
Advocacy
- The ongoing development of the Institute will include networking and collaborating with TVET and other partners to maintain a standard that prepares students to take the certification test administered by Government agencies and other certifying organizations. Foundation Builders International Institute-Kenya will keep a close relationship with certifying agencies while working with our graduates to ensure our students receive their certification. FBII-Kenya will develop linkages and alliances with government institutions, agencies, and NGOs working in vocational/business training, which will be promoted to improve leverage, advocacy, and employment for youth receiving vocational and business training.