Kenya: Building the Capacity of Community-Based Organizations

The Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI) Kenya Country Program organized a three-day orientation and planning workshop to empower communities to care and support for orphans and vulnerable children from April 8-10. This workshop brought together core HACI partners with seven community-based organizations that will receive the first set of small grants from the Hope for African Children Initiative. Representatives from the following community-based organizations participated in the Nairobi workshop:

• AIDS Kids in Nakuru (AKIN)

• Arap Moi Children's Home in Nakuru

• St. Rita Nanga Women Group in Kisumu

• Pandipieri Community Health Program in Kisumu

• Pepo la Tumaini in Isiolo

• Beacon of Hope in Nairobi

• The Kenya Assemblies of God, Mathare Child Development Center

• St. Martin Catholic

Besides providing a forum for partners in Kenya to meet, the workshop intended to orient participants on issues related to project governance, management, and increased capacity of community-based organizations to develop budgets, work plans, cash forecasts and monitoring of financial systems. By the end of the two-day session, facilitators confirmed that participants had an increased understanding of organizational development, better project and resource management skills, as well as better knowledge for effective proposal writing.

Participants found the workshop to be useful and asked for more opportunities to learn in a group setting and to continue building their organizational capacity. Participants suggested the creation of a data bank on best practices on HIV/AIDS and children under the auspices of the Hope for African Children Initiative. They also expressed the need to conduct follow-up sessions on project management, budgets and work plans.

"The interventions that we select must break with all conventional principles and practices of development programming-explains Dr. Boniface Maket, Country Coordinator for HACI Kenya-because the impact of HIV/AIDS on children and families in Africa is an emergency, it demands an emergency response". The Initiative's partners in Kenya have already identified twenty-six community-based organizations that provide services for children affected by HIV/AIDS and their families. These will be evaluated after the first set of grants is disbursed. If they meet the requirements set by the evaluating board, they too will receive funding.