•“Three years later, I am humbled to join the ranks of these amazing individuals,” Odede said as he shared the great news with SHOFCO supporters and staff.
•The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a leading global platform for accelerating social innovation.
Image: MERCY MUMO
Shining Hope for Communities Founder and CEO Kennedy Odede has been named as the world’s 2022 Social Innovator of the Year by the prestigious Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship.
The foundation, a sister organization of the World Economic Forum, recognized Odede for his work in slums across Kenya which include the provision of free quality healthcare, free water, free education, and the fight against social inequality.
“In January 2019 I had the opportunity to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. There I met leaders from around the world representing all sectors who were committed to improving the state of the world, including world-class social entrepreneurs.
“Three years later, I am humbled to join the ranks of these amazing individuals,” Odede said as he shared the great news with SHOFCO supporters and staff.
The Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship is a leading global platform for accelerating social innovation.
“I am dedicating this award to our supporters, SHOFCO staff and the communities we serve. This award gives us the energy to reach more vulnerable communities across Kenya through the provision of life-changing services,” Odede said.
SHOFCO is serving 2.4 million people across Kenya.
The prize has been awarded consistently since 2001. Among the previous winners include Denmark’s Thorkil Sonne (2012), Poland’s Jacek Strzemieczny (2001), Brazil’s Rodrigo Wright Pipponzi (2019) and Senegal’s Anushka Ratnayake (2020) just to mention a few.
SHOFCO established the first-ever clinic in Kibera in 2010 with just a handful of staff and volunteers to treat communicable illnesses.
By 2014, the number of patients had skyrocketed to over 300 per day, necessitating the creation of a major facility in Kibera and in 2015, expansion to Mathare.
With numbers rising, a need to be closer to the community gave rise to satellite clinics opening in neighbouring Manatha (2014), Kianda (2015), Subra (2017) and Makina (2017) in Kibera.
“The clinics were started from the idea that people should not die because of health care. Health clinics are very expensive to maintain especially in slum areas where demand is very high due to the large population. But we are very happy because we have supporters and partners who have made this possible, ” Odede said.
Odede, who grew up in abject poverty in Kibera, saw the challenge of water scarcity first-hand and he vowed to change the situation when he started SHOFCO in 2004.
“We used to have to walk several kilometres to get water, and would often suffer from water-borne diseases, as the underground pipes were contaminated with raw sewage,” remembers Odede.
It is for this reason that SHOFCO used a cutting-edge aerial piping system when it installed a water treatment facility in the slum which can pump up to 300,000 litres of water at a time to aerial pipes that connect to various water kiosks throughout the Kibera slums.
The water goes to 24 kiosks stationed at strategic points. Members of the Kibera community are no longer walking several kilometres in search of this precious commodity, all thanks to Odede.
The aerial water piping system has now been expanded to Mathare slums in Nairobi.
The organization has also bought water trucks that distribute water to Nairobi, Coast and Nyanza region residents.
SHOFCO has also put up two schools in Kibera and Mathare slums under its Girls Leadership and Education Programme.
The schools are the brainchild of Odede, who set them up as a way of empowering girls from the slum community. So far, the school in Kibera, which has over 400 students, has had pupils sit for KCPE in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020, whilst in Mathare, 350 students from pre-primary to Grade 7 are already enrolled for learning.
Once admitted, the girls have access to a full scholarship.
SHOFCO has also put emphasis on gender-based violence (GBV) awareness and response services because of the overwhelming need and lack of services available.
“Resulting from an overwhelming need, we have added an emphasis on combating gender-based violence, violence awareness, and response services. Our caseworkers also do outreach in the community to educate and empower them to achieve a future without violence,” Odede said.
Through its Shofco Urban Network (SUN), the organisation has brought together individuals and households through social groups run independently and organizes them to actively seek tangible change in their community and society at large.
SUN has over one million members in 12 counties across Kenya and that number is rising daily.
SUN has created a self-sustaining Group Savings and Loans program for members and their immediate families.
Odede, a graduate of Wesleyan University in the United States, was also recognized by President Uhuru Kenyatta in 2020 for reaching slum residents through the provision of water, soaps, tests and food at the height of Covid-19 pandemic.