Executive summary

Tahidi Kenya Project is formed for charitable and educational purposes.  The project is committed to working with rural based communities in Kenya to promote children literacy and end child abuse. Tahidi Kenya Project networks and collaborates with rural based communities, schools, individuals, organizations to address issues of rural children development and security thus promoting pro-social friendships, strong interpersonal skills, and reasserting a sense of hope in the future.

The Project’s initial focus is the remote villages of Homa Bay county located in the western Nyanza Province in Kenya.  This county has an estimated population of 55,000 children less than 20 years. All children between the ages of 4-15 from Homa Bay County are eligible to participate in the Tahidi Kenya Project programs. 

Through equipping children with reading, and writing skills, we believe the children are set on the right path to better education, better health, better jobs and better community.

 Additionally, we believe that issues of children insecurity in rural areas can be well addressed when the victims themselves are empowered to speak for themselves. As a result, our venture seeks to educate the public through publication and dissemination of literature done by kids, and other educational resources, to challenge and inspire community members to work together towards making rural communities a safe environment for children.

 The problem.

 Children do not have any real power on their own in society. Children are often voiceless victims, silent in the face of their oppression and abuse. The rural societies in Kenya do not have any room for children to voice their concern. The children suffer in silence. The rural society also lucks access to children protection services provided by governments and NGOs.  It is in this silence that predators thrive. Most media reports indicate that children sexual abuse in rural Kenya is on a steady rise. These injustices are usually committed by close relatives, school teachers and other community members and often go unreported or the offenders unpunished.

Ref: Kenya tackles teacher sex abuse, Aljazeera Oct 22, Teachers or Cheaters(NTV)

 The other extensive problem in rural communities in Kenya is children illiteracy. There are countless children in rural communities who are going through five years of education without learning basic reading, writing and math skills. While there has been remarkable progress in getting more children into Kenyan schools during the past decade, much remains to be done to ensure that all children and youth can attain a quality education. Most rural schools lack the resources to lay the much needed foundation for better education.

Ref: Last to graduate(KTN), Global Comapct on learning(Center for Universal education at Brookings)

The solution

It is in light of these two crucial issues that Tahidi Kenya Project was started. Our main goal is to help children speak out and advocate for their rights rather than waiting for the rights to be realized for them by others. Our venture seeks to provide space for children to voice their concerns without having to directly face the predators and the community in whole. This is through children literature.

Additionally, we want to help children enrolled in our program to be equipped for the future. Research shows that early literacy foundation is crucial to children’s lifelong success. To achieve this, our venture seeks to invest in rural based schools by providing extra tuition support in reading and writing. The children’s creative work, especially those addressing issues of children abuse, will be compiled, edited   and published as books and or magazines for the purpose of advocacy and community education.

We also seek to invest in improving the teachers’ instructional skills through teacher training workshops. This will be conducted during school breaks in April, August and November every year.

What sets us apart?

1. While some other ventures are located in major cities and urban areas, our venture seeks to operate from within the rural communities.
2. Our clientele, the children, are at the core of the venture. They are active participants and beneficiaries rather than spectators and victims.
3. Everybody wins: The community is empowered to respond to the needs of the children, the children work towards community cohesion.
4. We do not compete with other agencies; we facilitate their success and supplement their efforts.
5. The impact of our programs is a lifelong benefits. They set children on the right foot towards better future.