So They Can (Kenya)
So They Can is a non-profit organisation registered in Australia, New Zealand, Kenya, Tanzania and the United States.
All the communities So They Can works with face extreme poverty, illiteracy, a lack of employment opportunities, limited access to medical care, poor sanitation and, most critically, limited access to education and low transition rates to higher education.
In 2021, So They Can's programmes empowered 45,000 children and their communities in Kenya and Tanzania. So They Can developed a holistic approach whereby its Educational Programmes are implemented alongside initiatives in other focus areas, which all contribute towards child and community development and improved learning outcomes. These areas include child wellbeing, women's empowerment and community health and development. Access to water, food security, improved hygiene, sanitation and medical care, and economic empowerment all expand the population's capacity to provide a safe and nurturing environment for their children.
In 2021/2022, the Eurofins Foundation contributed to the “Education and Community Health Programme” in Kenya.
The Kenyan Children's Act of 2001 forbids early or forced marriage for people under 18. However, in East Pokot, girls of 10 years and above undergo female genital mutilation as a preparatory stage for marriage, often considered as culturally compulsory. Currently, 85% of 9-13-year-old girls from Pokot will experience female genital mutilation and be forced into child marriage.
The Education Programme is implemented alongside other programmes to holistically empower the communities So They Can partners with and make the programmes sustainable, with a clear exit strategy.
Objectives are realised through the delivery of various projects such as improving school infrastructure, enhancing food security by educating teachers and students on improved farming techniques, and keeping girls in school, along with helping the community to realise the importance of girls' education, prevent child marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM), and protect their human rights, health and wellbeing.
Funding from the Eurofins Foundation has enabled So They Can to carry out improved health related activities in Kenya and contributed specifically to community heatlh, with the objective of improved health of community members, including students at programme-supported school, through the provision of quality, well-resourced health care services by partner medical clinics.
6,462 students at 11 programme-supported schools and 168 teachers benefitted from school improvement Water, Sanitation, Hygiene (WASH) facilities as a result of this project. Improvements included 10 water tanks provided to schools, 3 existing boreholes rehabilitated, and 6 water points installed/ established. 11 school management boards were also engaged in WASH sensitisation activities.
In addition, 9,310 patients were diagnosed and treated at 2 local medical clinics as a result of this project, which impacted the entire surrounding communities of approximately 30,139 community members. 234 attended ANC clinics at the facilities, contributing to reduced neonatal deaths.
As a result of the impact of So They Can’s support to local medical facilities, the local government approached the So They Can Kenya team to request that the organisation carry out medical camps to service remote communities in the regions where So They Can work to ensure the provision of preventative, curative and referral health services and information to marginalised community members in those areas who have limited or no access to health care due to barriers of distance, cost and low literacy.
In June 2022 the first medical camp was piloted by So They Can Kenya, in the Kamathatha community in Nakuru County. The local Kamathatha Primary School provided their facilities for the camp, and 250 adults (80% of whom were women), and 60 children received free, quality basic health care, improving their general health and wellbeing. Due to the success of the activity, 6 medical camps will be carried out annually in 2023 and 2024 to enable 8,000 community members to directly benefit in underserved communities, in partnership with the local government and medical facilities.
In 2022/2023, the Eurofins Foundation renews its support to So They Can.
This project contributes to the following United Nations' Sustainable Development Goal
