Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) in Kenya and the Mastercard Foundation have partnered under the Mastercard Foundation Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Programme.
Development Diaries understands that the foundation is building the resilience of ten urban slums in three Kenyan communities as the East African country battles the pandemic.
The ten slums are Kibera, Mathare, Mukuru, Korogocho, Kawangware in Nairobi; ‘Bangladesh’, Mshomoroni, and Maweni in Mombasa; and Nyalenda and Obunga in Kisumu where SHOFCO has a presence.
It was gathered that the three-month partnership of $970,425 between the two organisations started in mid-May 2020 and has since reached 249,116 households.
The Regional Head, Eastern and Southern Africa of Mastercard Foundation, Daniel Hailu, said, ‘SHOFCO is on the front lines, reaching the communities that are most at risk for exposure to Covid-19 and hardest hit by the economic fallout from the pandemic.
‘As they literally go door-to-door, household-to-household, person-to-person, they are delivering more than health information, medical services, sanitation supplies, or work opportunities.
‘SHOFCO’s effectiveness is derived from the trust earned from communities, and they are an example for others seeking to work at the grassroots level. True to their name, they are delivering hope, which is just as fundamental to getting us all through this crisis’.
Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of SHOFCO, Kennedy Odede, said, ‘We are taking the Covid-19 message, temperature screening, soap, and sanitisers to the doors of the communities we serve in 10 slums in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu cities. We do temperature screenings and referrals of possible Covid-19 cases for further tests in public testing facilities’.
It was learnt that the exercise is led by 1,800 community health workers and volunteers drawn from the SHOFCO Urban Network (SUN), SHOFCO’s grassroots advocacy and leadership platform.
It was also learnt that SHOFCO and the Mastercard Foundation have partnered with the health ministry to build the capacity of the community health workers and volunteers to relay the Covid-19 message, identify common Covid-19 symptoms, and conduct temperature screenings.
Source: Mastercard Foundation
Photo source: Computerwhiz417
