2019-2023
OPENING THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY FOR WOMEN
© Buildher

2019-2023
Buildher
Buildher is a Kenyan social enterprise that trains disadvantaged young women in construction and crucial life skills, boosting their career prospects and helping them to achieve financial independence. By introducing a qualified female workforce into the male-dominated construction industry, Buildher is challenging traditional gender bias within the sector.
CHALLENGE
© Solidaridad/Annemarieke van den Broek
ACTION
Buildher’s pilot programme trains disadvantaged young women living in Nairobi’s informal settlements to become qualified construction workers.
To ensure a truly transformative outcome, the training curriculum integrates technical and critical life skills, placing special emphasis on building confidence and leadership. The participants also receive education about health and wellbeing topics, such as sexual and reproductive health, mental health, nutritional support and physical conditioning.
Buildher supports the graduates through a network of construction employer partners, helping them secure fairly paid employment opportunities as carpenters, joiners, painters and plasterers.
Buildher is now refining its training curriculum and strengthening its placement strategy with the aim of training 680 women and helping them transition them into paid, qualified jobs by 2023.
IMPACT
The 69 programme graduates between 2019 and 2021 were able to increase their income from $3 to $8-12 per day.
GRADUATES
currently pursuing careers in construction
INCOME INCREASE
after four months of training