Spirit of Youth Association for Environmental Services

Our organization was founded in 2004 and began its activities in 2000 under the auspices of another NGO.  Our first activity was the Children at Risk project funded by Unesco to pilot the concept of recycling as a relevant content for non formal learning and designing curriculum for out of school children and youths.  It was later followed by a partnership with multinationals suffering from having their empty shampoo containers getting fraudulently refilled and our school recovering four types of shampoo containers produced by one multinational firm in 2003.

Future Goals
The school gets a small income from the sale of plastic granules, the end product of the work experience. The teachers would now like to improve this source of income by purchasing a machine to produce finished articles from the recycled plastic granules. This would add another dimension to the boys’ technical training; as well as mastering another machine technology, they would need to develop marketing skills for the finished product. Additionally, through the craft workshops it may be possible to develop other abilities and potential sources of income, such as producing gift tags, greeting cards, etc. In this way, they are gaining skills needed to maximize their meager resources and to survive in the new globalized world. 

NGO Background
The Association Spirit of Youth for Environmental Services was registered in Cairo on 6/7/2004 under # 5676 as a developmental NGO in the field of environment, health and development in various fields in the Cairo governorate, specifically in the garbage collectors'' area.  All members of the NGO originate from families of garbage collectors who have taken the initiative to improve and develop their ancestor’s trade.