Community Foundation Western Province (COFWE)

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION WESTERN PROVINCE

(COFWE)

KENYA

 

The Managing Director

Head Office

Gisambai Village

West Tiriki Division

Hamisi District

P. O. Box 13

Gisambai

Kenya.

Email:generalsecretary54@yahoo.com

Cell phone: 254-0734-630-085

 

STRATEGIC PLAN

2009 – 2014

 

(Launch date: 1 September 2009)

 

 

1.0 BACKGROUND

 

This is the first strategic plan of COFWE. It was prepared by the Board of Directors of COFWE. The plan describes the problems the people of western province of Kenya face and the context in which COFWE works. The plan explains the objectives of COFWE during the next 5 years. The plan is the top policy document of COFWE and is updated from time to time to reflect the current position of the organization.

 

2.0 ORGANIZATIONAL MISSION

 

COFWE was founded to work towards the betterment of the standards of living of the people of western province of Kenya. This mandate includes:

 

•Resource mobilization for the grassroots development actors working in the province

 

•Operating temporary and permanent funds for supporting the work of the grassroots development actors.

 

•Organizing community groups to act quickly on urgent and emerging challenges in the province.

 

•Working with the Governmental organizations as well as local and foreign donors to fund the activities of grassroots development actors.

 

•Building crucial development infrastructure for use by these grassroots development actors

 

3.0 HISTORY

 

COFWE is registered under section 10 of the Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) Coordination Act of Kenya by the NGO Board, Office of the President; certificate number OP.218/051/2008/037/5090 of 27 April 2008. COFWE is a public non –profit making organization that is managed by a Board of Directors (BOD) drawn from across the province. COFWE has a skeleton staff establishment based in the city of Nairobi but with offices in Hamisi District, Lugari District and Vihiga District of western province.

 

 

4.0 STRENGTHS OF COFWE

 

•We aim to operate province-wide

•We are not political

•We work with grassroots development actors including youth groups, women groups and schools

•We are professional in our fundraising and resource usage operations

•We add value to stakeholder operations

•We are part of a national network of NGOs operating in Kenya

 

5.0 CHALLENGES THAT COFWE FACES

 

• Establishment of endowment funds

• Cultivation of a culture of planned giving among the local people

• Meeting its indirect costs of managing the community foundation

• Networking internationaliy with donors and relevant support organizations

 

6.0 ENVIRONMENTAL SCAN

 

Western province is the second smallest province of Kenya. The province borders Uganda. The headquarters of the province is at Kakamega, which is some 450 kilometers west of the capital city of Nairobi.

 

Western province is one of Kenya’s poorest regions with 67% of its 4 million people living below the absolute poverty line. Recent trends show that this poverty is deepening.

Food insecurity is worsening. The infrastructure continues to degrade. Educational standards are falling. There is a need for change leadership that will transform this region.

 

6.1 Employment creation

 

The economy of western Kenya is expected to remain peasant-driven in the foreseeable future. There are only 2 heavy industries in the province, namely, Mumias Sugar Factory and Nzoia Sugar Factory. These factories employ only a small number of people. Therefore, unemployment rates are big in this province. COFWE will work with grassroots organizations to create essential infrastructure such as water supply and communal markets to help create jobs in this region.

 

 

6.2 Partnership with Educational Institutions

 

Education offers a way out of the extreme poverty found in Western Province. However the province’s performance in national examinations at both elementary and high school national examinations is poor. Too few students from the province make it to national schools. Poor performance in mathematics and sciences has denied students from this region entrance into the professional courses offered at universities such as engineering and medicine. There is much need to invest in education in this province.

 

COFWE will partner with select strategic educational institutions in the province in order to transform the educational performance of the region. We will achieve this by creating bursary and scholarship funds to assist orphaned and other vulnerable students from poor as well as HIV/Aids stricken families. We will also seek to boost educational standards by creating award schemes for top performing students in the province.

 

 

6.3 Partnerships with government

 

The present government continues to start pro-poor development initiatives that are benefiting the people from western province. This includes school bursaries, infrastructure construction and the establishments of constituency development funds (CDF).However, the initiatives are inadequate as only few people have benefited.

 

We expect government to continue to seek opportunities to partner with NGOs as one way of increasing access to development in this province. The Government could use the NGOs in delivering public services. NGOs can help promote good governance and democracy in the province. To facilitate this Government will need to consider increased funding of NGOs through the CDFs.

 

COFWE will strive to seek increased collaboration with the government without compromising its independency. Through this collaboration COFWE will obtain resources to assist its partner grassroots development actors. COFWE will also assist community groups to prepare quality project funding proposals for direct submission to CDFs.

 

6.4 Partnership with other Development Actors

 

Networking has become a key tool to create synergy and foster fast development. COFWE will seek to facilitate broad based networking and collaboration in the province. We will strive to bring together non-governmental and private sectors to deliberate and take common stands on emerging urgent issues in the province.

 

6.5 Resource Mobilization

 

Building a permanent fund to support the administration and project work of COFWE remains our biggest problem. Grants and donations from individuals and organizations remain our main source of income. COFWE will also explore various ways of fundraising including offering paid services to the community and the government to supplement its budget.

 

COFWE will seek to act as a grant-making intermediary for the government as well as international donors. These pass-through funds will be given out in a way that reflects both COFWE’s priorities and those of its donors.

 

Individual as well as institutional donors can use COFWE to ensure that their money is directed to the most deserving people in western province. We will continue to engage local as well as international donors to seek for grants and other assistance to enable us fulfill our mandate. We will be aggressive in fundraising for what we believe are the most pressing problems facing the province.

 

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6.6 Reaching Those in Greatest Need

 

Our priority will be on the people in greatest need. These are the disadvantaged, the poor, the discriminated, the sick, the illiterate, the children and women. In particular we will first seek to help whole villages other than individual households. By working in this way we will help rescue many people who are currently trapped in a vicious circle of poverty.

 

7.0 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

 

Our strategic objectives arise from our assessment of the urgent needs of the people of western province. We want to focus on these objectives so that we can create the greatest impact.

 

 

a. Strategic objective number one. Reach the most disadvantaged groups in the villages of western province of Kenya

 

Priority Groups

 

•Women

•People with disabilities

•Children and the youth

•The poor

•The elderly

•The sick

 

Examples of projects we will support

 

•Projects that create local voluntarism

•Capacity building and training projects

•Community health and well being projects

•Development of essential village infrastructure and pro-poor support services

 

 

b. Strategic objective number two. Educational development for children and the youth

 

Priority groups

•Poor children who are at the risk of not enrolling or dropping out of school

•Children with special talents that could go to waste

•Starving children

•Orphaned and other vulnerable children

•Children in distress because of natural or manmade disasters

 

Examples of target projects

 

•Soup kitchens and rural food banks

•Sporting projects

•Gifted children projects

•Bursaries and scholarship funds

•Volunteer teachers

•Hostels and housing

 

c. Strategic objective number three. Create employment by facilitating networking and joint working.

 

Identified key groups

 

• Disadvantaged Youth/ Women Business Enterprises

• Community Based Organizations

 

Examples of possible projects

 

•Micro-finance and micro-insurance

•Tool banks and tool leasing

•Business and project management training

 

d. Strategic objective number four. Fundraise for community projects as well as the long term sustainability of COFWE.

 

Identified sources of funds

 

•Community based assets

•Government grants

•Corporate social responsibility

•Individual donors

•International Foundations

•Other community foundations

•Fees from community services

•Investments

 

Example financial instruments

 

•Direct project grants

•Endowments

•Pass through project funds (Restricted or unrestricted)

•Restricted funds (Donor advised funds, named funds)

•Unrestricted funds (Organizational administration, named funds)

 

 

8.0 VISION

 

We work to see that all the people in western province have the opportunity as well as capacity to fend for themselves and earn a decent life now and in future.

 

9.0 ORGANIZATIONAL VALUES

 

We strive to live to the following values:

 

•Priority setting

•Time keeping

•Team working

•Financial prudence

•Customer satisfaction

•Calculated risk taking

•Stakeholder engagement

 

10.0 MARKETING PLAN

 

Our marketing plan is reviewed every quarter.

 

 

10.1 KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS(KPI)

 

a) Geographical coverage

 

•10 % of districts in western province (end of 2010)

•30 % of districts in western province (end of 2011)

•50 % of districts in western province (end of 2012)

•75 % of districts in western province (end of 2013)

•100 % of districts in western province (end of 2014)

 

b) Number of member or collaborating grassroots organizations or institutions

 

•10 (2010)

•20 (2011)

•30 (2012)

•40 (2013)

•50 (2014)

 

c) Number of beneficiaries

 

•1000 (2010)

•2000 (2011)

•3000 (2012)

•4000 (2013)

•5000 (2014)

 

d) Annual Performance Indicators

 

•Good academic performance

•Resources mobilized

•Employment created

•Number of disadvantaged reached

•Number of school drop outs prevented

 

 

10.2 OUR UNIQUE STRATEGIC POSITIONING

 

The strategy of COFWE should be supported because:

 

•COFWE makes it possible for donors to help make a difference in western province of Kenya.

•By supporting COFWE you will be reaching the people who are suffering from disadvantage or discrimination.

•The number of people who need our assistance is big.

•The management of our community foundation is professional.

•We are flexible in the way your funds can be held and be used by us.

 

10.3 How to give through COFWE

 

a. Become a local or international member

b. Become a corporate member

c. Give‘one off’ donations to our endowment fund

d. Establish an endowment fund to support causes that you believe in:

 

(i) Donor advised (where the donor selects the projects to receive grants)

(ii) Donor designated (where the donor indicates the issue, cause or geographical

area to be assisted)

(iii) Unrestricted (where the income is used for COFWE’s general charitable

purposes)

e. Let us manage your pass through funds

f. Become our sponsor of the year

 

 

11.0 Public Communications

 

Our public communications include:

 

•Email newsletter

•Sub-domain

•Local electronic and print media

•Participation in local events including agricultural shows, cultural festivals and sporting tournaments

 

12.0 STAFFING

 

Board of Directors

 

Fred Khaemba Nabangi (Chair)

Lead Management Consultant and Trainer

Amice Engineering

 

Albert Kenyani Inima (Secretary and Interim Managing Director)

Lecturer

Nairobi University

 

Robai Muhonja Isiaho (Treasurer)

Matron

Kenyatta National Hospital

 

Jackson Ukiru (Member and Field Coordinator)

Pastor

God Will Make A Way Ministries

 

Volunteers

 

Linda Asava (Lugari District)

Sabella Ngatia (Hamisi District)

Zephania Inima (Hamisi District)

 

Current corporate member organizations

 

Bezalel Academy

God Will Make A Way Ministries(GWMAW)

The National Organization for Private Public Partnership (NOPPP)

Nairobi Community Foundation (NACOF)

 

Current individual members

 

Fred Khaemba Nabangi

Albert Kenyani Inima

Jackson Ukiru

Robai Muhonja Isiaho

Alice Linyerera

Joseph Linyerera

Zephania Inima

Linda Asava

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Done