SHOFCO wins 2021 Community Engagement Award » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 10 — Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) has been awarded the 2021 Community Engagement Award by the Volunteer Involving Organization (VIO) society in a grand ceremony held at the organisation’s headquarters in Kibera on Thursday.

Presenting the award, VIO Society Secretary General and National Coordinator Fred Sadia said the award was given to SHOFCO for involving communities in the grassroots in its programs.

“SHOFCO programs are owned by the people in the grassroots. We chose the organization for this award because of its programs that touch directly the lives of the most vulnerable in slum communities. These include youth and women empowerment programs,” Sadia said.

He further singled out SHOFCO water program that he said has benefitted the residents of Kibera and Mathare.

SHOFCO is using a cutting-edge aerial piping system and has installed water treatment facility in Kibera which can pump up to 300,000 litres of water at a time to aerial pipes that connect to various water kiosks throughout the slums.

The water goes to 24 kiosks stationed at strategic points across the slums. Members of the Kibera community are now not walking several kilometres in search of the precious commodity.

While receiving the award, SHOFCO Founder and CEO Kennedy Odede reminiscence his early days when he started the organization.

“Volunteerism is power. There are things that money cannot buy. When you do something that you’re not paid for, that is humanity. The reason why we have strong foundation at SHOFCO is because we started with nothing. We were just volunteers in the community,” Odede said.

Odede said he has paid school fees for children he does not know and bought food for the people in the streets voluntarily.

Odede said he started Shofco Urban Network (SUN) program in 2013 as community networking platform that allows people to solve problems voluntarily.

“SUN is a network of volunteerism. We do not need money to change communities,” he said.

Consolata Odhiambo, a founding member of SUN, echoed Odede’s sentiments.

“I have seen SHOFCO grow from nothing to something. It is not about money, but the love of the community and we thank Odede for the initiative,” she said.

SUN has 2.4 million members across Kenya.

Previous winners of the award include Dr. Manu Chandaria (2017) who received it for his philanthropic work both in corporate and community.

The 2018 award went to Madam Joyce from Murang’a County for her exemplary work in supporting the elderly in the community and in 2019, the society also recognized volunteers from Eastern and Southern Africa.

Mombasa County was the recipient of the 2020 Volunteer COVID-19 Response Award by the society.

VIO Society works in partnership with State Department for Social Protection.