Roots Institute Centre is a Community Based Organization (CBO) registered in Kenya since 2013.
As a non-profit, non-governmental, non-denominational, and non-political initiative, our mission is to fight poverty through access to various form of education in the heart of Mathare, one of Nairobi's largest informal settlements.
Our work is rooted in the neighborhood of Kosovo - one of Mathare’s thirteen village, marked by its history of hardship and resilience.
We are dedicated to empowering disadvantaged children and youths by providing them with the knowledge, skills, and mentorship they need to build a brighter future.
Large portion of the school age population does not have adequate access to educational opportunities. Although public primary schooling has technically been free since 2003, parents with children in public school reported paying up to 100 € per kid for a year. Many poor families cannot cover such expenses.
Therefore, during the school day, children and teens from Mathare are often seen idle, playing outside or wandering the streets , which makes them highly vulnerable to gang recruitment, trafficking, prostitution, involvement in drugs and alcohol, crime and rape at an early age.
We are committed to ensure that every child, no matter where they come from , can achieve whatever they want in life.
with a complex socio-economic environment. Located in the northeastern part of Nairobi, built along a small river - Mathare River - in a hilly environment, it is home to over 850,000 people (Estimation of population varies depending of sources) in an area measuring roughly 3.5 square miles, divided over 13 villages.
