Kenya

Macheo Children’s Center- Thika- Kenia

Something which started years ago (2005) as a small Children’s Home, has currently become a large organization with different programs. Macheo has been founded by the Dutch Marnix Huis Int Veld, who is still the director.

Macheo works in a holistic way, all domains which effect the life of a child are being covered. For proper Monitoring & Evaluation Macheo has developed their own App, which gives valuable data to take the right decisions and to measure the impact which is obtained with the interventions they provide to their beneficiaries. They use a Child Status Index (CSI) questionnaire, which covers 7 domains and finally gives a score in each domain about the current situation of the child before starting any interventions.

According to the scores the child and their family are referred for 1 or more interventions to improve in the concerned domains, measured again at the end with the CSI. The interventions are focussed to assist the child and their family holistically, in the areas they need support, and interventions are always for short term, to prevent families to become dependent. To implement an internal quality control, CSI’s are done by area social workers who refer them to different interventions. These interventions are done by service providers, having Key Performance Indicators (KPI) to assess the child again at start and end to see the progress. Through the CSI at exit point the effectiveness of the different interventions is measured. In case interventions are not meeting their goals they can be adjusted or replaced.

The 7 domains are:

• Health
• Psycho-social
• Education & Skills
• Shelter
• Care
• Protection
• Food & Nutrition

Many interventions are directly linked to these domains, like health, counselling, access to education in all levels from nursery to university, improving living conditions (like  a bed), house rehabilitation, etc. Others are crosscutting different domains, like Rescue centre (children’s home for short period from 1 day to several months providing all domains), baby care for abandoned babies from who many go for adoption after 6 months, teenage pregnancy, economic empowerment intervention, lunch and porridge in over 20 schools, so children have at least 1 full meal a day and will join school and increase their concentration.

Macheo has been a long term valuable partner of Stichting Benjamin, working closely together and making each other stronger.

 

More information about this project on www.macheo.ngo

Watoto Wenye Nguvu

Watoto Wenye Nguvu (WWN) has been founded in 2005 by Elizabeth Gitau, who was a primary school teacher at that time.
WWN was started, in cooperation with an American foundation Children of Strength ( which is also the meaning of WWN) and had as main purpose to help vulnerable children both orphans, half orphans and vulnerable families through education. Next to that they also provide school feeding to around 3500 children in different schools. They also started a sponsorship program supporting individually children up to the end of their education, but currently this program is being slowly changed into an intervention approach, giving more short term interventions where needed, using CSI and KPI assessments and evaluation. (see Macheo for more info on this)

The start of the children’s home “Kusitawi Village” in 2005 was a great need that time and currently has space for 80 children. In 2015 it was changed from dormitories to the original vision a village of 10 family houses, being able to give individual need based care. Stichting Benjamin sponsored this transition, which was also always the philosophy of the founders of Benjamin.

We are sponsoring WWN since 2009, first we were sponsoring some children in the children’s home after consultation with the American partner we started sponsoring the full children’s home as of 2011. We have been working closely together being first board members and later stakeholders.

In 2019 WWN also started different vocational trainings in catering, tailoring, Hair & Beauty and farming.

Currently we support different interventions next to the children’s Home in all areas.

More information about Watoto Wenye Nguvu on: www.watotowenyenguvu.org  

 

Upendo Children’s Home and Projects-Majengo-Kenia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pendekezo Letu

Maria Magdalena Sheltered Workshops

Maria Magdalena Special School, is a school for special education from Nursery till vocational training after finishing school. The students are all mentally retarded and sometimes combined with a physical handicap. The school has 120 students in boarding and several day students.  The problem in Kenya is that after school there is no place these children, or young adults can go. The society does not yet accept them, and due to high unemployment, there are hardly no places for them to work. Often they go back to their family, who does not want them, or they end up in the streets as the village foul or are misused by criminals, and end up in prison or worse. The Maria Magdalena school was full, and while their students couldn’t go somewhere, no new children could enter the school, which means young children mentally retarded were staying at home and had no change to develop. By starting sheltered workshops, a place where they can live and work, this problem is solved. It does not yet exist in Kenya and is a pilot project. The first phase was started in February 2014, for 12 of them a small farm with vegetable production and a house where they can learn, under guidance, life-skills and living independently. In 2020 this has grown to 40 trainees living internally and 5 being day participants. It has a waiting list of over 75 persons.  Also next to the farm the number of workshops has been increased with: creative arts, concrete, metal , woodwork and a small restaurant.  The Benjamin foundation is supporting this unit for the largest part for their operational costs and if necessary adding some salary costs for the workshops. We partner with OASA from Germany, who are doing all investments, equipment and also participate in running cost.  The workshops get in general breakeven. In the future they want to expend the capacity to over 100 participants inhouse.

For more information visit their website on: www.mariamagdalena.sc.ke of www.munyu.de

The Action Foundation

The Action Foundation (TAF) is a foundation several years ago founded by Maria Omares, who was at that time still a student at the university. She wanted to start something for Children with a Disability and their parents.

In the meanwhile the organization has been growing, and Maria even got a price from the American Senate. TAF is working mainly in Kibera , the biggest slum of Kenya, but also started now in some other slums around Nairobi. There is still much stigma and discrimination and parents don’t understand their children with a disability or don’t accept them.  What TAF is doing is giving education in local schools about disability to teachers and children, to be able to accept and respect their disabled agemates and students and promote and improve inclusive education. Next to that they also provide occupational and physio therapy, nutrition training and street business training  for economic empowerment and starting a business. Parents are also being trained how to do the exercises at home to have more impact. In the middle of Kibera TAF is running a Hub from where they provide the trainings and therapies for their clients, but they also move around in the area.

For more info visit their website: www.theactionfoundationkenya.org