Corporate Social Responsibility
Home

CSR

We work directly with two centers;

 

A) FURAHA CENTRE

 

Furaha means “Happiness” in Swahili. Furaha Day Care Centre was founded to provide happiness and quality life to children with cerebral palsy, autism and down syndrome who are often neglected. The center offers quality day nursing care, play, meals, sensory integration and occupational therapy. It relies on from well-wishers for its daily operations.

 

These children are often neglected due to birth defects, resulting in poor health, malnutrition, and are often sexually abused too. Discrimination and stigma cause these children further psychological and emotional harm. Few organizations in Meru County help such young people and are not able to cater for every needy child.

 

The center is equipped with special therapeutic room, physiotherapy section, counseling and psychotherapy room, classes, dining hall and other necessities.

 

The center is managed by a Director, Manager, and staff from the community.

 

Read more… furahacentre.org

B) KABIRO COMMUNITY

 

Kabiro Human Development Project was initiated by Institute of Cultural Affairs (ICA), a US-based NGO back in 1975. The project serves the expansive slums of Kawangware with a population of 133,286 (2009 census) and Kangemi with a population of 100,000 (2009 census). So far, it caters to its community through 4 programs: a school (elementary and high school), clinic, youth groups and women’s groups. The programs are managed by a committee of volunteers from the same community, heftily-dependent on donations from the government and well-wishers.

 

1) Kabiro School

 

Kabiro School serves the less-fortunate children within the environs of Kawangware and Kangemi slums.
It started out as a pre-school and an adult learning center in 1975. At the time, the requirements to join a public school were quite high hence there were plenty of children who failed to meet the threshold. The school had relaxed rules to accommodate these marginalized lot, to be at par with their peers.

ICA helped run the school until 1987. Since then, the school is run by a board of volunteers drawn from the community. Teachers, too, are volunteers from the community although they receive a stipend. The school has a flexible fee payment structure which allows parents to keep their children in school, who would otherwise turn to vices under different circumstances. Recently, the school started a feeding program to encourage children to stay in school all day.

Currently, the school has 200 pupils in Primary School (equivalent of Elementary School) and 120 students in Secondary School (equivalent of High School).

2) Kabiro Clinic

 

The Kabiro Clinic is the only community-based clinic within the Kawangware and Kangemi slums. It specializes in outpatient care, particularly;

  • Family planning
  • Maternity care
  • Antenatal and postnatal care
  • Immunization
  • TB clinic
  • PMTC
  • CWC
  • HIV care

 

The clinic, currently staffed by 2 nurses, 1 clinician and 4 Community Health Volunteers (CHV), serves an average of 25 patients daily and 20 maternity cases monthly.

3) Youth Welfare

 

This is a registered group with the government, which engages in initiatives that enhance cohesiveness especially along ethnic lines. The welfare provides vocational training such as:

  • Carpentry and woodwork
  • Driving
  • Mechanical engineering
  • Electrical engineering
  • Driving

The welfare is sustained by a car wash, a craft shop, rentals and entertainment revenue (sports). It also has several entertainment avenues including a video game studio, a library, a variety of games (pool table, dart board) and a soccer field. The community, at large, has a Wi-Fi connection.

4) Kito Futures Café

 

This project Technology to Empower Youth with Education and Employment. The objective is to enable youth to interact with technology in positive and creative ways to create economic opportunities; to be trained, coached and supported to acquire knowledge and skills, create jobs, and get exposure and tools for success in the knowledge economy.

 

In Kawangware there are very few small computer cafes charging exorbitant prices for their browsing services with very slow internet connectivity. There is no well established computer hub where young people can go and work from or learn critical computer skills. The establishment of the Kito Futures Café will bridge that gap for young people who are vulnerable and lack such opportunities due to poverty. This project will provide the slum youth with critical computer skills that will enhance their employability. It will also be a space where they will learn other skills such as networking, professionalism that would give them an added advantage in job search. In addition, the project will provide a working space for our youth to undertake online jobs that will improve their livelihoods. The Futures Café will also act as an incubator for youth to launch their micro businesses in graphic design, website development. They shall be able to design simple items like business cards, brochures among other for clients.

 

Activities at the Kito Futures Café include:

  • Workshops on entrepreneurship, 21st Century skills, leadership and innovation
  • Enterprise incubation services
  • Open space for collaboration, work and networking.
  • Workshops on Internet literacy and jobs
  • Job placement and training in digital jobs
  • Workshops/support for on-line learning
  • Career development: psychometric tests, maps, plans, mock interviews, CV writing
  • Technology career events.