Ongoing Program Activities

Sauti Kuu's core objective is to alleviate poverty and bring sustainable economic development to the region in which we operate so that the children and young people who live there have a future there. This we do by tapping into already available assets, such as land, a valuable resource, and the potential of the young people.

In addition to tapping into the potential of the young people, we work with the children and their families, who are mainly smallholder farmers, to find ways to use affordable local resources to improve their financial situations leading to economic independence. This includes training them in financial literacy, environmental management, improved agricultural techniques (via a demonstration garden), crop diversity, animal husbandry and water management, among others.

In addition to our core objective for the rural families, we also focus on helping the children and young people to take responsibility for their lives and, despite difficult living circumstances, participate actively in determining and improving their own lives.

We achieve this by:

• The establishment of safe non-judgmental mental and physical spaces to realize youth potential
• Identifying, nurturing and developing youth talent
• Personal and life skills training
• Teaching environmental awareness & land appreciation as an income-generator
• Providing learning support to complement learning in school (Library/ Computer Lab)
• Providing Career Advisor and Guidance for Employability
• Creating opportunities for employment, and technical training for self-employment

Sauti Kuu uses a unique participatory approach in the implementation of all its programs. This requires its target group to actively initiate, input into, and negotiate implementation options and process and finally take responsibility for driving forward and participating in program activities. Emphasis is placed on the young people not seeing themselves as victims, dependent purely on external help and handouts. Instead, the young people are encouraged to internalize the two core messages that guide the work of the Foundation: ‘You Are Your Future!’ and ‘Use What You Have To Get What You Need!’ They learn to come up with realistic, workable and sustainable solutions that enable them to become responsible and economically independent young adults giving back to their communities.

SKF has four key program areas:

1) Personality Development and Character Building (PD)

2) Education and Training (ET)

3) Sustainable Economic Growth (SEG)

4) Infrastructure Development (ISD)