The Jakaya M. Kikwete Youth Park (JMK Park), located in the heart of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, is a non-profit organization that was established in 2015 by Symbion Power, in partnership with English Football Club Sunderland AFC (SAFC) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). To address the challenges faced by young people in Tanzania, this state-of-the-art sporting facility harnesses the power of sport to help youth lead healthy lives, develop core values of teamwork, discipline, respect, and self-esteem, and to acquire the personal and social skills they need to interact positively with one another, and deal constructively with various real-life situations. Through sports we help bolster their physical, psychological, emotional, and social well-being.

JMK Park is a safe and engaging environment for young people. A wide range of free programs target the most vulnerable girls and boys of all ages and provide them with the opportunity to engage and participate in competitive sports in a world-class facility. Our programs are especially relevant for the most marginalized youth, with a particular focus on girls and those with disabilities. Since its establishment in 2015, JMK Park has reached over 100,000 participants.

At Symbion, we know that utilizing the skills of local people is critical to our success.  In countries where Symbion works, Symbion Power Center training schools have been established to help develop a skilled local workforce capable of constructing and installing electrical power infrastructure.  In Tanzania, the Symbion Power Center trained linesmen in the construction of distribution lines. In Kurdistan, the Symbion Power Center trained locals in the construction of overhead transmission lines. Trainees who successfully completed the program were placed in positions working on Symbion’s nine contracts across Iraq. Symbion also built the Symbion Power Center training school in Kabul where trainees were taught by an experienced linesman who then went on to work at Symbion’s power plant project site.

Symbion’s commitment to ‘in-country’ expertise enables us to respond quickly to complex engineering issues and to retain the ‘in-country’ expertise and local capacity that is needed for self-sustainability on our projects.

Symbion worked with the US organizations the Corporate Council on Africa and Engender Health to develop and implement SAMBAZA UMEME SI UKIMWI (Swahili for “Transmit Electricity, Not AIDS”) or “SUSU,” an innovative and flexible approach to workplace and community-based HIV prevention. SUSU worked to encourage the reduction of high-risk activities associated with HIV/AIDS transmission, provided education on proven prevention strategies and practices, and promoted health-seeking behavior among its workforce and in the communities where Symbion operated.  Symbion’s commitment to empowering Tanzanians in their fight against HIV/AIDS is parallel to its commitment to capacity building and skills transfer in its power projects.

During the construction of a 100MW power plant in Kabul, Afghanistan, Symbion, along with its partners, delivered more than 3200 pairs of children’s winter boots and shoes as well as more than 2500 pair of socks to needy children at schools and orphanages near Symbion’s projects in Kabul.  The first distribution took place at a school in Kabul on December 25, 2008 where expatriate employees of Symbion and Hart gave out the items to more than 800 children.