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UNDUGU SOCIETY OF KENYA About Us: The history of the Undugu Society of Kenya (USK) spans more than 34 years. It is one of the pioneer organizations in Sub – Saharan Africa focusing on street children rehabilitation and community empowerment. The late Father Arnold Grol, A Dutch Catholic priest belonging to the missionaries of Africa, founded the organization in 1973 after observing a growing phenomenon of street childen in Nairobi. He was deeply touched by their plight and developed a desire to provide them with comradeship and solidarity. Programme interventions are now both curative and preventive with particular emphasis being given to capacity building of marginalized people and communities to be able to unleash their potential and effectively participate in improving their livelihoods. Our Vision: A just, socially and economically empowered society where every person has access to decent livelihood. Our mission: To contribute to the socio –economic empowerment of street children, vulnerable youth and marginalized poor urban and rural communities through lobbying and advocacy, capacity building, access o education and training and the creation of linkages aimed at reducing poverty for the attainment of decent livelihoods. Our Core Values: 1. Solidarity with the poor and the marginalized communities. 2. Integrity, honesty, accountability and transparency. 3. Courage of conviction. 4. Commitment to serve the interest of children and youth. 5. Teamwork and meaningful participation of children and youth and target communities in what we do. 6. Fairness, justice and equity in our society. Organization Governance Structure: Management Committee The management committee, headed by the executive director is responsible for the day-to-day running of the organization. Members of the committee include heads of departments and programme managers. Board of Directors This organ is responsible for policy formulation. Members of the Board are professionals drawn from different fields to serve for a three year term, renewable once. Membership of the Board of Directors is voluntary. Board of Trustees This is the organ which has the ultimate control of the assets of the organization. Membership to the Board of Trustees is voluntary, as well. The Council The Council is the supreme decision making body in USK. It comprises the Patron, members of the Boards of Directors and Trustees, representatives from USKS operation areas and members of the Friends Circle. PROGRAMMES: Children and youth Programme: Street children rehabilitation, which is at the core of USK’s existence, is the responsibility of the Children and Youth Programme. Being a pioneer in this area, the programme has over the years spearheaded a number of approaches in an effort to find a lasting solution to the problem. Experiences range from institution to community–based rehabilitation with each of the approaches providing useful lessons that continue to inform the organization’s current and future strategies for street children and the streetism transformation project. This transformation project was initially on a pilot basis in Nairobi, but has prospects for expansion in other selected urban centers in the country. The project seeks to transform existing groups of street children and youth from gangs into responsible and reproductive associations. The transformation entails leadership and group dynamics training, peer to peer rehabilitation as well as counseling. The project is also engaging the groups in activities aimed at enabling them to deal with drugs and substance abuse, criminal tendencies, self–image and positive attitudes towards the public. They also have a chance to pursue skills training for self reliance. In the long–term, the programme plans to link them to job opportunities and other income generating initiatives. Besides their own transformation, the groups also facilitate the identification of young and new children on the street who require immediate rescue and reintegration as well as school placement. Such children and youth either pass through USK's temporary place of safety (the Kitengela Centre) or referred to other institutions providing rehabilitation services, in the event that it is not possible to reintegrate them with their families immediately.
Education and training programme:
The Education and Training Programme is comprised of two sub-programmes: the Undugu Basic Education Programme (UBEP) and the Informal Skills Training Programme (ISTP). The Undugu Basic Education Programme (UBEP) is a four–year non–formal education programme catering to marginalized children unable to pursue formal education, usually, due to inability to access it because of abject poverty. The programme targets children of 12 years and above and is being implemented in Kibera, Pumwani, Mathare and Ngomongo informal settlements. The current programme capacity stands at 850 learners. The Informal Skills Training Programme (ISTP) provides opportunities for children and youth, including graduates of UBEP, to acquire technical skills to enable them become self–reliant. Currently, emphasis is being put on building the capacity of community based organizations (CBOs) to become effective partners in the implementation of the training programme at their level, with a view to enabling the programme to reach more deserving cases. While UBEP is implemented in Nairobi only, ISTP is being implemented in Nairobi, Western and Eastern Kenya.
Undugu Community Empowerment Programme: The Undugu Community Empowerment Programme implements integrated community development interventions in areas with high poverty levels, mainly in the urban areas. Programme areas include development education, economic empowerment, health (including HIV/AIDS awareness) and improvement of infrastructure. Health and HIV/AIDS interventions are centered on prevention through awareness creation and behavioral change as well as facilitation of community based support structures for people affected by the pandemic. Lobbying and advocacy, building the capacity of community based organizations (CBOs) and establishing linkages for access to resources and services are important strategies for the programme. Areas of capacity building include leadership, management, governance, access to information and knowledge aimed at strengthening community organization capabilities. One of the recent community empowerment initiatives is the introduction of a Self–Help Group (SHG) model. The model, which targets poor women, is anchored on the principle that every human being, however poor and vulnerable has a potential, something the model seeks to help unleash. The building of three tier people’s institutions namely, Self–Help Groups, Cluster Level Associations and Federation are the critical tenets of this model, which is already being implemented in Eastern Kenya (Machakos) and Western Kenya (Kisumu).
Lobbying and Advocacy:
Why Lobbying and Advocacy?
Where we are
The
Children and Youth
Programme will be undertaking a qualitative and quantitative survey
next year (2008), on glue sniffing and other inhalants commonly abused by
children living on the streets.
The
Fair Trade Unit
, which empowers marginalized communities and producers through providing market
access, has identified some challenges facing producers of handicrafts in the
country. Consequently, the Unit is currently carrying out a comparative policy
and legislation research on fair and free trade policies both locally and
internationally, including the World Trade Organization policies. Digital Story Telling for Advocacy: USK is undertaking an innovative approach towards addressing the issues facing the children and youth with which it works. Instead of USK serving as a medium between the children and government, this project seeks to raise their voices directly by empowering them to speak out about issues affecting their lives.
To achieve this, USK has been training 17 of its beneficiaries how to write good blogs, take good photographs, and put this material online for the entire world to see. Some of the issues that the students have raised include police harassment, poverty, environmental degradation, drug use and the post-election violence. The project embraces the concept of child and youth participation and strives to be a youth-led project in the future. USK and the students will be standing up for their rights and for issues affecting them on the local, national and international level. This includes advocacy related to serious policy reform as well as changing negative public attitudes that tend to hold the children and youth back. Thus, this project gives the students a chance to counter the overwhelmingly negative stereotypes that they face, especially those living and working on the streets. Contact Us: Arnold Plaza 5th Floor Woodvale Groove,Westlands Nairobi, Kenya P.O.Box 40417-00100
254-020-4454280/1 254-020-4454282 |
