Possibilities Africa

REPORTS

PAK 2007 MID-YEAR PROGRESS REPORT
Goals and initiatives
This was the second year for Possibilities Africa exploring and establishing its work in Kenya. As any new work, we have experienced great excitement and also challenges to our efforts. Under the umbrella of Possibilities Africa, Kenya (PAK), we set out with the following goals, which fit in our overall mission and agenda for growing this ministry:

Development of a 5 year Ministry strategic agenda
Establishing of ministry leadership and Secretariat for Kenya
Community transformation programmes
The business agenda
The mentoring programs

As the year has advanced we have endeavored to focus our energy and resources on each of these goals which are having a significant impact on the development of PAK as an organization in the country.

Development of ministry strategic plans:
As a new work in its second year of creation we decided to start the year by doing a strategic plan to inform the direction and future of the ministry. A team of 12 core team members gathered for one whole day to finalize the discussion on the designing of the future of PAK.
At the end of the session we came up with a strategic document that is now informing our work especially for the next 5 years. We contextualized the Possibilities Africa vision, mission and strategic agenda to make it relevant to Kenya. These were restated as follows:

MISSION: To provide capacity< for communities’ transformation in Kenya.
VISION: To see local village communities transformed into values-based, visionary and responsible communities.

We did agree that our work in Kenya for the next 5 years will be build around the following core objectives:
1. Empowering local villages to develop and work towards a common vision for the transformation of their communities.
2. Mentoring and motivating children from poor communities in effort to develop the next generation of responsible citizens and leaders
3. Encouraging the starting of small businesses as an alternative to unemployment & to mitigate poverty.
4. Undertaking advocacy against social, political & economic injustices.
5. Inspiring the educated working class to serve their communities and live as responsible citizens
The past 6 months have been spent trying to develop our work in realizing the above objectives. A detailed strategic paper is attached
Establishing ministry Leadership and secretariat
As an organization we needed to put in place leadership structures and operations team to enhance accountability and smooth running of our work. First we established our local board with the following as members:
1. Martin Simiyu (PA founder) – Chairman & President.
2. Rodgers Achieng’(A senior Pastor of a local church) – Vice- Chairman
3. Rowlands Nadida (An attorney) – Secretary
4. Ann Waweru (Works in insurance company) – Treasurer
5. Dr. Mike Mahero (a Veterinary doctor) – Ex- Officio & PAK programmes coordinator.

Additionally we have five successful career and business persons who are serving in an advisory role to the board. These are:

Peter Ondeng’ – African director for Millennium promise
Dr. Tokumboh Adeyemo – Executive Director for center for Biblical transformation and chancellor Nairobi Graduate school of theology
Kingston Ogango – Local successful small business man
Steve Wandera – Regional executive director, British American Insurance,
Kennedy Kimiywe – Senior Pastor of a local church (over 5000 membership)

Second, we established an operations location as a legal requirement but also to facilitate the implementation of our work. We recruited the services of two young educated Kenyans who have proven their passion for PA’s vision by serving on our team in the past one year. Charles Nyaoke has been with us since last year assisting us as an administrative assistant and a fields officer. His role involves helping us in administration issues at the secretariat but also coordinating our communities relations. Dr. Mike Mahero joined us in May to serve as the programmes coordinator. His role is to coordinate the implementation of all programmes and to oversee the secretariat.

We also benefited from the establishment of the Business incubator facility where PAK shares the space as the secretariat’s offices.
Here we have a desk, computer, telephone and internet access and other facilities to enable us do our work. The establishment of the secretariat has given credibility to our organization in a country where many non-governmental organizations operate as briefcase organizations with limited accountability system.

Community transformation initiatives
For African communities to develop, a new strategy that empowers communities to create a vision for the future is essential. This endeavor seeks to help communities:

Identify community needs
Develop a community vision
Agree on community values
Set objectives that will lead to development and transformation.

The year 2006 saw PAK initiate projects in some of the communities of our involvement. The projects included:

Poultry project in Namawanga community
Dairy project in Namawanga community
Brick making project in Namawanga community.
The solar lighting system in Namawanga and Mbeere (in partnership with LOTI – see www.loti.org )
Borehole rehabilitation projects in Mbeere

The projects have assisted members of the community to embark on these small scale economic activities that have given them an opportunity to generate some income but also given them hope to know that they can do something to improve their own lives.

However, we realized with increasing concern that our approach had to change if we were to achieve sustainable development, a sense of ownership and responsibility within the community. This informed our decision to invest more time and resources into capacity building and training.
As a result in the year 2007, our focus in the community has first and foremost been to build capacity before any further project is initiated.

This has led to a greater sense of responsibility among the community members. The brain-storming sessions we have held with the community has generated greater bond of understanding and partnership and a greater sense of cohesion among the members of the communities where we have been working. For example, In Namawanga, a community based organization which brings together all the other smaller groups has been one of the significant developments of this slight paradigm shift in our community initiatives. This has resulted in the
community assuming a proactive role in tackling its challenges. As displayed by the following efforts;

They have organized agricultural field days in the past, where officials from the district and provincial agricultural offices have been called upon to conduct trainings on improved farming techniques.
The women have organized themselves into a care group that seeks to support widows and orphans. They also carry out community sensitization on health issues such as HIV and Aids plus offering moral and material support to those affected and infected. This is purely driven by the women in the community on their own volition.
They were able to rally members from each community group for a training conducted by PAK secretariat and core team member. This was conducted during the last week of June and focused on, goal setting, planning, monitoring and evaluation, marketing and microfinance.

Now the people in this community are not just thinking in terms of receiving donations but rather a partnership for transformation.
The success in Namawanga community has enabled us to start making inroads into other communities where we believe the same approach will lead to transformation of mindsets for the purpose of generating responsibility, accountability and ownership of the change and development process.
Now the people in this community are not just thinking in terms of receiving donations but rather a partnership for transformation. The new communities we are engaging are:

Mbeere:
Where an opportunity to establish a mentoring programme in a secondary school
was identified.

Ahero:
Here, community leaders voiced the need for a mentorship programme in a local high school and training in entrepreneurship and transformational leadership.

Mt. Elgon:
Where our portal of entry into the community was a local church whose youth are involved in different projects and community sensitization of various social and health ills. All these aforementioned areas are in different regions (provinces) of the country.

The Business agenda
As an organization our mandate in the business arena is to help young people not only consider but opt for business as an alternative to employment. We believe that this effort will add to the reduction of poverty, reduction of unemployment and stirring the growth of the economy at local levels of the country. So far our initiatives in this matter are two-fold:

a.The business incubator
In March, the business incubator was started. This is a facility that provides an opportunity for business start-ups during the initial months of their operation by helping them reduce their operational costs, receive business mentorship and support them to stability. So far our incubator facility, started in partnership with CBMC international, is home to 4 budding businesses all of which are making hopeful strides. (This has been expanded to include 3 new incubates.) The business start-ups will be incubated for about 1 year. After 6months, they will start paying back for the support received. This has also generated opportunities for training and mentorship in effort to address the arising needs.
Incubator Expansion.
After 2 months of operation it became evident that in order to ensure establishment of not only this incubator but other similar units in other major cities in Kenya. Sustainability was without question a prerequisite. As described in the classic report Our common Future (1987) sustainability involves meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Thus in a bid to achieve this it was decided that the number of incubates should be increased from four to seven. This would lead to greater achievement of our goals without a major change in the recurrent incubator cost.
The process is now complete with three new businesses in the process of settling into the incubator. The new entrants are as detailed below:

>James Mwaniki.
His training is in information technology and has a firm called Cornel Solutions that seeks to offer data management solutions to its prospective clients.

>Oscar Kimani.
A business management graduate his firm TransTech Investments provides online marketing options for major players in the tourism industry. It also provides an online database of vital information on tourist facilities in Africa for all interested individuals.

>Liz Mwangi.
A graduate in International Business. She has had a passion for and interest in floral designs. She currently is planning to venture into event planning and wedding organization. Through her business, Larz enterprises.These individuals are all in their start-up phase and will benefit a lot from the training and mentorship opportunities provided in the programme. James, who is venturing into a relatively neglected area in the Kenyan market, will benefit a lot from the availability of computer and internet facilities plus the networking and mentorship opportunities. The need for the services that Oscar seeks to avail cannot be understated given that Kenya is a key tourist destination. This is especially so, given the fact that most of the current online tourist information sites lack detail. Armed with talent and training, Liz looks forward to the mentorship programme within the incubator and promises significant growth in the next few years.
b. The business workshops and seminars
The purpose of the business workshops and seminars is to challenge, inspire and train local young people into business entrepreneurship. This is being done at a national and at a village level with the hope that many around Kenya will use their resources to make an economic mileage. It is this effort that has spurred the Namawanga community youth to start a brick making business and the incubatees in our incubator facility to be involved in starting small businesses. Our next major workshop is planned for Mid-October with possible visiting facilitators from the USA.
It is the dream of PAK team to see our business agenda grow to have influence in major towns in Kenya and the communities where we work. This is part of our strategic plan for the next 5 years.
Mentoring the next generation
PAK has a vision to have a great impact on the next generation. In this effort we have sought to invest in mentoring of students in schools, both primary and secondary. In 2006 we made contacts with a number of local schools where we started working with children to impact them positively.
Our curriculum seeks to provide and/or address the following with the children:
1. Help the children appreciate and grow with a foundation of Christian values
2. Equip the children to be able to address social issues including pregnancy, AIDS/HIV, etc with the children
3. Provide opportunities for children to have wholesome interactive games and social activities
4. Provide opportunities for children to start at an early age involving themselves in developmental projects and servant leadership.
  A team of young Kenyan professionals are steering this program with the hope that in the next one year we should be implementing it in about 10 schools in the country.
  
  It is important to mention that in our approach of doing ministry in Kenya we seek to involve local young educated working class. We do this because we believe that they have what it takes to impact their communities as servant leaders through their talents, treasures, and time.
  
  We at PAK are privileged to be trusted by our USA Board and partners. We believe God for great things in the coming years.
  And now you do not have to fear that you will get another huge report to read since starting now we will be sending out a monthly report to keep them small and keep information flowing. God bless you as you pray for us and support us.

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