Women learning to read at Vutakaka Center. 
Farmers from our farmer's field school learning how to
increase the yield of their maize crop.
Overview.
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The East African Center for the Empowerment of Women and Children (EAC) is a non-profit organization that helps communities achieve empowerment by increasing literacy for women and children, improving health status, and eradicating poverty. We currently carry out our work at the Vutakaka Community Center in Takaungu, Kenya.
In the future, we are looking to expand our programs into new communities throughout East Africa.
The EAC provides daily adult classes in reading, basic math, and business skills. We have helped so many women learn to read and run their own businesses, and in so doing, created new opportunities for them to empower themselves and improve the conditions of their lives. read more>
We provide a primary school and after-school tutoring for primary and secondary school children. Our programs are staffed by instructors from the local community as well as volunteers who have come from all over the world. read more>
Many of the families in the area we serve do not have the ability to to obtain sufficient food on a day-to-day basis, and do not have surplus to sell for profit.
Our business skills classes help women learn the math, accounting and management skills to maximize productivity and profits.
Women are taught basic tailoring skills which can be utilized for the establishment of their own businesses, and/or equip them with the skills needed to produce our fabulous line of "Takaungu" label products. To view their products, click here.
Good maternal and child health is essential to a family’s well-being. In the area we serve, few families have access to even minimal health care services, and prenatal and childbirth services are virtually non-existent. The EAC provides in depth health information through its weekly public health lectures and health library. The center’s classes offer information on topics including maternal and child health, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. Thanks to the West Seattle Rotary (USA), we also have a vehicle that is used for emergency medical transportation.
NOTE: We are currently in the process of establishing a new health clinic at the Vutakaka center that will provide basic health care services to women and children. We are in need of immediate financial support to open this clinic. If you would like to help us, please donate now.
Our library provides children and adults with the only local access to free reading materials. Children literally run to our library when the local public school lets out, in order to read books and get tutoring. This resource has opened the world up to so many children and adults—providing opportunities to learn about so many different topics, and of course, to increase literacy skills.
We describe our work at the East African Center as empowering women and children, providing assistance to communities and resources for people to make a difference in their own lives, and ensuring access to resources and tools for change.
Our multi-faceted development approach is community driven, low-tech and sustainable in the long run. It is targeted specifically to the local community's needs and guided every step of the way by the community that we serve.
The people we serve have been our guiding partners from the very beginning of the East African Center. In August 2001, our Founder and Executive Director Suzanne Wilson met with leaders and many members of the village of Takaungu to discuss the possibility of future projects there. The village council expressed a strong desire to work with us, and we conducted a participatory rural appraisal between January and April 2002.
From this appraisal we listened to the needs of the community and began planning several programs to address these needs. In particular, the community wanted a nursery school for their children, educational programs for adults, training to develop marketable skills, and health information and services. read more>