DAVOS, Switzerland, May 27 — Shofco founder and CEO Dr Kennedy Odede has explained how partnerships between the government and community-led organizations can help end poverty within Kenyan slums.
Dr Odede, who beat poverty to turn a simple dream into a movement that has impacted over 2.5 million slum dwellers in Kenya through various causes such access to health, water, community advocacy platforms, education and leadership development for women and girls, said government cannot do it alone.
“We are working with the government to come up with policies that can really transform these kinds of communities. I think it is possible if we unite,” the renowned social entrepreneur told the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday.
Joining other panelists to discuss the topic Rethinking How to Eliminate Global Poverty, Dr Odede gave the example of the failed slum upgrading programme, where the government attempted to move people from Kibera slums by building houses for a few.
“Kibera has like one million people and the government thought it can solve the problem of housing by helping one section and forgot the social connection and how close-knit these slum communities are,” said Dr Odede.
“What happened is that with no housing for the middle class, they paid the slum dwellers who had been given the new houses and occupied them while the others returned to the slums,” added the Shofco boss, who feels government got it wrong by not involving the community.
“The plan has to come from the community, bring the designers and architects to sit down with the locals. That is when you have best housing and we at Shofco have been and are still pushing for that in Kenya.”
Dr Odede feels this is the same mistake that has been made by a number of NGOs in Kenya who come to start and champion various causes in the slums but fail.
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“You might have money and a PhD but you need to know what is happening on the ground if you do not live in that community. How do you help someone without understanding the situation?” he posed.
“We see people flying in and think that they can save people but that cannot happen. We have to understand the experience of the leaders who are there. Poverty can be eradicated if we give the tools to the people,” he added.
With it being a political season in Kenya, Dr Odede explained how he has seen tables turned with communities negotiating for their own interests during the countrywide voters versus aspirants debate that Shofco has been organising.
“The slum community is a big voting bloc in Kenya so we ask ourselves, how can we turn the masses into accountability. We organise ourselves, meet politicians from ward to presidential level and ask what they want from us as we tell them what we need from them because the slum community are ready to work with any government.”
Dr Odede was joined on stage by Igarape Institute president Ilona Szabo de Carvalho, Tracy Francis, Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company, Asif Saleh (Executive Director, BRAC), Precious Moloi-Motsepe, who is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Motsepe Foundation as well as Marcos Troyjo president, New Development Bank.
They also discussed how making African youth innovators that create jobs can be the easiest way to alleviating the unemployment crisis on the continent.
“If you look at the population of the youth it is growing. If we invest in African youth, we will see growth. If not, we will have problems because they see how other people live and look at themselves. This is what drives them into crime,” said Dr Odede.
This was the second time in a week the Shofco founder was taking to the stage in Davos, having been among 16 people who were awarded the 2022 Social Innovator of the Year by the prestigious Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship on Monday.
The forum brings together heads of state and government, global CEOs and other leaders to discuss critical challenges facing the world today and present their ideas on how to address them.
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