CHANGE FOR CHILDREN
Partnering with marginalized communities in Kenya to establish an “ecosystem” of life-sustaining services for the very young, so that they and their families can thrive.
Change for Children Beginnings
From 1999 - 2005, Africa Exchange was heavily involved in the education and rehabilitation of street children and orphans in Kenya's capital city, Nairobi. Feeding programs, informal eduction, residential safe houses and the like were among the strategies we used to meet the needs of this growing population of neglected children. It dawned on us that part of the problem was the increasing migration from rural to urban areas and the consequent mushrooming of slum populations. We decided to approach the problem at it's source, in marginalized rural areas of the country.
2006 - 2016: Integrated Child Development Centers
Over the next 10 years, we established 8 of what came to be known as Integrated Child Development Centers (ICDCs). Using existing studies provided by the Government of Kenya, the United Nations and various faith based NGO's, we selected the poorest districts in 8 of Kenya's then 9 provinces to implement a program of “quick wins” identified through the millennium development goals as critical for the survival of children under age 6 yrs. These "quick wins" provided a template for the kind of interventions we now undertake. Namely:
Provide preschool education for children ages 3-6
Incorporate essential micro-nutrients (vitamin A/zinc) in children’s food
Facilitate regular annual de-worming for children to improve health outcomes
Distribute free, long lasting, insecticide treated mosquito nets for children in malarial zones
Provide a nutritional, daily meal for preschool children
Provide access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) at the preschool level
Provide community-level support to plant trees that stabilize and preserve the surrounding environment
Scholars
As children progress through our ICDC units and on to local primary schools, we are able to maintain connection and identify those with exceptional academic performance. We provide a limited number of scholarships for senior secondary, tertiary and university education. We support and maintain an active group of 24 scholars at various stages in their academic journeys, gatheringing them together annually for retreat and even supporting them through internships toward eventual employment.
20 years and counting . . .
Our Change for Children program is active in over 20 locations in Kenya, most recently focusing all new efforts exclusively among the 23 ASAL counties of the where education services are spread thin. As we expand to new counties, our goal is to provide a viable, sustainable, best practice model of the integrated approach that county governments can then scale as resources become available.
