Happy New Year 2023

As we enter a new year, its’ a great opportunity for a charity organization like ours to reflect on our past accomplishments and set new goals for the future. For our organization, which is focused on providing education to underprivileged children in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya, there are many areas in which we can strive to improve and make a bigger impact in the coming year.

One important resolution is to increase the number of children we are able to serve. The plan to expand the school building is starting to take the first steps, with the redevelopment of some outbuilding, including the kitchen and the eating area.

More funds are needed to finance the whole new construction, so 2023 will see some additional fundraising activities targeting specifically this transformational project.

Another important resolution is to improve the quality of education we provide. While we have been able to achieve measurable academic gains for the children in our program, we know there is always room for improvement. One way we plan to do this is by providing additional resources to our teacher, such as training and support for the use of new educational technology and strengthening our collaboration with other organization such as Teach for Kenya. Additionally, we will be working to incorporate more hands-on, experimental learning opportunities for our children, around ITC, coding, etc.

A third resolution is to increase the impact of our programs. While providing education to children in Kibera is critical, we also want to do more to help these children and their families overcome the systemic poverty they face. One way we want to explore is developing new programs that support the children’s families, such as providing livelihood opportunities, health education and training on financial literacy.

Talking about impact, this year we will publish the first Impact Report which will measure and formalise the impacts we have done and in which area, analysing the vast amount of data we have collected during the last twelve years of activity. The report will help define the areas where we are more successful and those which need more investments, providing a fundamental tool to help the VF Board making decisions for the future.

Another step in this direction is also building more partnerships, with other organizations. By working together, we can multiply our impact and reach more people in need. Examples of these collaborations are Teach for Kenya and Together for Better.

Finally, as an organization we must also become more sustainable. This can be achieved through diversifying our funding sources, looking for charitable grants and linking into corporate CSR programs. As for reducing our overhead, already being a very lean organization with many volunteers make us a very virtuous charity so the efforts here is toward being aware of goods and service market price fluctuation and be always ready to switch or renegotiate supply contracts.

Overall, these are just a few of the ways we plan to make an even greater impact in the coming year. By working together and staying true to our mission, we are confident that we can make a real difference in the lives of underprivileged children in Kibera.

As an organization, we are always open to hearing from donors and volunteers who may have other ideas on how to improve and make an impact. We look forward to working together to provide education and opportunities for the children of Kibera and wish everyone a happy new year.

VF Team