Kennedy Odede, the Founder and CEO of SHOFCO (Shining Hope for Communities), has been awarded the
United Nations Nelson Mandela Prize.
It is one of the world’s highest honours for individuals who
have dedicated their lives to service, justice, and community leadership.
The Nelson Mandela Prize is awarded by the United Nations
every five years to two individuals—one male and one female—whose work
exemplifies Mandela’s legacy of reconciliation, social justice, and human
dignity.
Odede becomes the first Kenyan man to receive the prize.
“This award belongs to the people of Kenya. It belongs to
the youth in Kibera who keep dreaming. It belongs to the mothers who rise
before dawn to care for their communities,” said Odede.
“Mandela showed us that leadership begins with listening.
That’s what we do every day at SHOFCO.”
Raised in Kibera—one of Africa’s largest informal
settlements—Odede founded SHOFCO in 2004 with a vision to build dignity and
opportunity from the ground up.
Today, SHOFCO reaches over 2.5 million Kenyans across 75% of
Kenya’s counties with clean water, health care, girls’ education, and economic
empowerment programs.
It mobilises hundreds
of thousands of Kenyans through the SHOFCO Urban Network (SUN), one of the
continent’s largest community-led development platforms.
A symbol of African resilience and ingenuity, SHOFCO’s model
has been recognised globally, with Odede previously named to the TIME100 list
of the world’s most influential people.
Yet, it remains rooted in local action, employing thousands
of Kenyans and working hand-in-hand with communities to tackle poverty, gender
inequality, and systemic exclusion.
“Kennedy Odede’s selection for the Nelson Mandela Prize is a
powerful affirmation that the most transformative leadership often rises from
the grassroots. His work through SHOFCO proves what we have long known: that
communities are not passive recipients of aid—they are architects of change. At
a time when the world must urgently shift power closer to those it seeks to serve,
Kennedy stands as a beacon of what’s possible when we trust local vision and
invest in dignity,” said Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, Founder, Human Capital
Africa; former Vice President, World Bank Africa Region
The award will be presented during an official UN ceremony
at headquarters in New York in July 2025 as part of Nelson Mandela
International Day.
