New entry
Sikizana Trust fights for the right of the child and promotes education of the needy and vulnerable children. We have a rescue centre for abused children.
About You
About You
First Name
Cosmas
Last Name
Nzilili
Twitter URL
Facebook URL
About Your Organization
Organization Name
Sikizana Trust for Community Development
Organization Website
Organization Country
Kenya, XX, Mtito Andei
Country where this project is creating social impact
Kenya, Mtito Andei
Is your organization a
Non‐profit / NGO / Citizen sector organization
Your role in Education
Social Worker.
The type of school(s) your solution is affiliated with
Public (tuition-free)
How long has your organization been operating?
More than 5 years
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Innovation
Select the stage that best applies to your solution
Growth (your pilot is up and running, and starting to expand)
How long has your solution been in operation?
Operating for more than 5 years
The Need: What problem are you trying to solve?
Orphaned children and those who have been subject of child abuse then rescued and returned to school within the lower eastern part of Kenya have been facing descrimination from fellow pupils, teachers and to some extend parents. I extreme cases, such pupils have opted to recoil back to solitary at home or in the streets. Effectively they cannot access the government free education offered here in Kenya and poverty settles in their families.Those who hold on to their guns result in applying bullying and other forms of violence as a way of protecting their space.
The Solution: What is your solution? Be specific!
Sikizana Trust runsa Rescue for abandoned and abused children and scholarship programme for needy bright ones from Kibwezi district in Kenya.
To create appreciation among the beneficiaries, we run weekly forums for the children at the rescue centre where they share their backgrounds freely. We bring together all the high schools students every Christmas holidays. The older ones start by sharing their live experiences to bolden up the new beneficiaries. These helps to eliminate self pity and appreciate that each individual has had his/her challenges.
We have extended this to schools where we continuously advocate for case by case handling of characters. Where the community feels that a school is mishandling a case, we are called in. We assist the teachers and pupils to analyse the child in question. We also assist the affected children to freely share their experiences.
The solution is continous communication among the school community and right based approach to education.
The Model: Walk us through a specific example of how your solution makes a difference; include your primary activities
Role models' experience sharing - This involves identifies successful personalities within the communities who have gone through serious difficulties as they grew up yet they made it. We also identify others who at one time mocked suffering cases like orphans who say how later fortunes changed and how sorry they where.
Personal experience - Everywhere I go I share with parents, teachers and pupils about my childhood problems and how certain people identified with and saw the inherent potential and helped me through.
Friday baraza at the Rescue centre - This forum help break the ice for new comers at the centre. Older beneficiaries invite them and talk about themselves first without asking for response.
Christmas camp - This was brought up to make sure that all our beneficiaries had same holiday experiences.
Schools outreach - We go school to school advising teachers on right based education and the need for case by case approach to child behaviour. This reduces instances where children maybe evicted for issues they were not in control of.
Community education on children rights - Through public forums and radio programmes, we educate parents on the need to respect the right of the child irrespective of where the child comes from.
Story telling - Africa is rich with stories emphasizing on emphathy. We have initiated school based story telling during public events.
Audio video shows - This is the new phenomena that we seek to introduce here. We intend to showcase the need for children to put themslves in other children situations.
The Marketplace: Who are your peers and competitors? Identify others also working to address the needs you are and what differentiates you from them. What challenges could these players pose to your success or growth?
I work closely with teachers in schools and the children department. We are more of collaborators than competitors. Sikizana Trust is more so percieved as an authority in the field and so a point of reference. The main challenge may arise where schools parents and teachers may feel our intervention is not welcome.
Now that you have thought out your entry, help us pitch it.
Define your company, program, service, or product in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
Sikizana Trust exists to make sure each child's right is respected by all and provides education and rescue support to needy children.
Identify what is innovative about your solution in 1-2 short sentences [136 characters]
Innovation arises from the fact we are breaking social norms and local teaching practices that do not allow cross-age communication.
Social Impact
This Entry is about (Issues)
What has been the impact of your solution to date?
We have reached upto 22 schools with a population of 7000 pupils with message of emphathy and behaviour change. These schools have ceased to evict orphans and disturbed cases. Instead they have initiated modalities of identifying each case by case problems. More vulnerable children are now sticking in school and receiving good care from parents, teachers and fellow children.
There has been reduced instances of bullying and violence in the schools we have reached. We are receiving reports from concerned parents everytime they feel a child situation in a school is not being understood.
What is your projected impact over the next 1-3 years?
We need to reach at least 36 schools per year in the next three years. We as well seek to include the participation of local district education office in the program so that they can assist in policy inclussion upward. The use of audio visual is going to help our rural population capture faster the essence of emphathy in schools.
Winning entries present a strong plan for how they will achieve and track growth. Identify your six-month milestone for growing your impact
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your six-month milestone
Task 1
Identify target schools
Task 2
Consult and hold a briefing session with the head teachers and District education office
Task 3
Identify role models to carry out our outreaches
Now think bigger! Identify your 12-month impact milestone
Identify three major tasks you will have to complete to reach your 12-month milestone
Task 1
Train select teachers on behaviour change towards appreciating emphathy in schools
Task 2
Collect and develop audio visual material for sharing with children during outreach
Task 3
Review our activities through monitoring and evaluation
Founding Story: We want to hear about your "Aha!" moment. Share the story of where and when the founder(s) saw this solution's potential to change the world [125 words]
Every December we bring our scholarship beneficiaries together for Christmas holidays. On the second day we hold a camp fire where I share my story of having been streetboy, a scholarship beneficiary, a university graduate and now the founder and Directo of Sikizana Trust. This opens the space for voluntary sharing of their background. In 2007, we invited guests to the camp fire. They included 3 teachers, an area administrator and my former teacher. The following day, the teachers called and confessed that they felt that they could have been mishandling desperate and vulnerable children without knowledge. They challenged Sikizana Trust to share our approach to all schools in the region.
Sustainability
Tell us about your partnerships
I work with Out of Afrika in the Uk to sponsor rescued children at the Rescue centre. Bertha Foundation in South Africa helps us in core support.
Alliance fro Youth Achievement supports in infrastructure development including construction.
The government of Kenya supplements our feeding programme with relief food.
What type of team (staff, volunteers, etc.) will ensure that you achieve the growth milestones identified in the Social Impact section? [75 words]
Our volunteers have mainly been from the teachers fraternity. This will continue to be the case as ths domesticates the projects in each individual participating school.
Please elaborate on any needs or offers you have mentioned above and/or suggest categories of support that aren't specified within the list
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