A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) in Migori County has embarked on human development as the key to unlocking and addressing persistent societal, cultural and economic issues affecting the Migori residents.
Lake Regional Coordinator Mr. Peter Shikuku said that his organisation is focusing on preventive approaches rather than curative to address the root causes of problems facing the residents.
The organisation which operates in Migori, Kisii and Homa Bay counties has been approaching issues affecting society through community dialogues, communication support and public sensitization. Shikuku said that the Lake Region-NGO has been striving to address the root causes of the socioeconomic and cultural issues through community dialogues and consensus.
The organisation has been supporting Early Childhood Education (ECD) by ensuring teachers are well equipped with teaching tools as well as facilitating children with food and other social amenities.
So far the organisation in partnership with stakeholders like the Ministries of Education and Health have been able to supply 15 ECD Centers with nutrition food, pit latrine construction and child support materials like child-friendly chairs.
Shikuku noted that instead of waiting for children to face malnutrition it was ethical to help supply nutrition and other balanced foods to school children. In March this year children in four Sub Counties of Migori were facing malnutrition because of a lack of balanced diet. The County received nutritional supplements worth Sh 28 million to aid in the malnutrition problem that had affected more than 8,000 children under the age of five.
He also noted that the organisation has embarked on pit latrine construction in various schools in the sub counties of Rongo and Kuria to address the issue of open defecation. Shikuku said that by constructing the pit latrines they were preventing diseases like bilharzia and cholera that in recent times have affected the population of Nyatike Sub County.
This financial year the County Government of Migori responded by setting aside Sh. 6 million to deal with Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) like Bilharzia with the aim of eradicating the disease in the county.
Shikuku added that the organisation has also stepped in to support and retain 36 vulnerable and needy youths that were almost dropping out of school. He said that they were already sponsoring 1,300 orphans and vulnerable children between ages 0-24 in various high schools and colleges across the three counties.
At the community level, Shikuku said that with the support of the Migori Veterinary and Livestock department they have been able to train various farmers’ groups on daily heifer and goat management. Lake Region NGO has so far been able to provide 84 care givers with heifers while 68 were gifted with goats.
“We as an organisation believe in both community dialogue and communication in helping us identify the right indicators for a positive social economic empowerment”, noted Shikuku.
The local NGO is also doing continuous entrepreneurship training for the youths where some will be assisted with a start-up capital.
“The 2021 KCPE results showed that less than 20 percent of students were able to transit to universities. Therefore, there is a need to equip a huge chunk of school and college leavers with necessary entrepreneurship skills so that they can assist the nation to drive our economy in the positive direction,” noted Shikuku.
Shikuku added that the Lake Region will also initiate cash transfers to help those that live in abject poverty. In the previous years, the NGO was able to do cash transfers of Sh 3,000 to 360 vulnerable and needy individuals affected with HIV and Aids in the counties of Kisii, Homa Bay and Migori.
