THIKA CENTER

Thika town is currently under Kiambu County and is currently as it was formerly an administrative district in the former Central Province of Kenya. The town is adjacent to the north eastern border of Nairobi. The area and town has a population of 645.713(2009 National census). Thika area covers an area of 1,960.2 Km². It borders Nairobi City to the south, Kiambu town to the west, Maragua town to the north and Machakos town to the east. Thika area is quite densely populated but with diverse distribution varying from one division to the other. Gatundu, Thika Municipality, and Gatanga Divisions are the most densely populated with Gatundu having the highest. The lower parts of Ruiru and Kakuzi Divisions are the least densely populated. High population density in most parts of Thika has put pressure on land leading to its fragmentation. In addition to Thika being a rich agricultural area, is one of the leading industrial cities in Kenya. CAP YEI began a replication center at the Thika Technical Institute after an agreement between the institution’s stakeholders and the CAP YEI directorate.

CAP YEI Involvement

This followed a market study that established the need to empower area youth with job entry skills that had become a great constrain to their employment, earning, and prosperity. The first batch of CAP YEI trainees at the center began their training on March 2013 with the focus to train hospitality, Customer Relations and Sales. Later Hair Dressing and Security Systems and Guarding was introduced. The center has admitted and trained 13 batches of youth since its inception to date. Thika has already enrolled 325 youth in the second phase, 196 completed training, 80.67% succeeded to be placed in jobs, 121 are in internship, and 11.73% started small businesses.