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CDS Kenya Programs

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PEACEBUILDING

For children to live secure lives, it takes more than just basic necessities of survival. Communities need good governance, lasting and equal economic development, civic empowerment, and peace and reconciliation.
True peace comes from within. Our approach is to help communities resolve their own conflicts, build capacities to heal broken relationships, and nourish justice. We are building peace, one young person at a time. We educate children and youth in conflict areas so they can help bring peace to their communities from the inside.

HEALTH & NUTRITION

Good health empowers people to live a better life. We serve vulnerable children, families, and communities by teaching proper hygiene and nutrition and enhancing their health systems.
We strive to fight and support Hiv/Aids victims and OVCs access support to boost their immune and income.
There are countries where we see children dying needlessly from preventable issues. We want hope and health to be restored. We want to see improved access to care, lasting behavioural change, and communities connected to what works so children and families can survive and thrive.

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EDUCATION

All children have the right to lead productive and fulfilling lives. We help make this happen by supporting them with an inclusive, quality education for life in a nurturing and safe learning environment.
Empowering children starts with parents and teachers—providing educational tools and training is the first step to help children become lifelong learners, improve their communities, protect themselves from violence, and live a productive and fulfilling life.

CDS Kenya Programs

Community Development and Sustainability Organization (CDS) is concerned with good governance and advocacy. CDS represents the voice and proactive action of communities in five counties as potential engines of the socio-economic growth and national democracy in respective jurisdictions.

Youth

We empower young women and men living in poverty and exclusion to engage in the advancement of productive employment. In Kenya, every nine out of 10 unemployed persons are below the age of 35 years. According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the largest unemployment rate is in the age cohort 20–24, at 19.2%. This paints the picture of a ticking time bomb as unemployment brings about the frustration that makes these youth susceptible to engaging in illegalities such as drug abuse and even being lured into terrorism.
In recognition of the pivotal role Kenyan youth have to play in the eradication of poverty; we are working to facilitate their access to employment by mobilizing young wo/men and their institutions to demand improved work environment for young wo/men in the informal sector. We support youth networks to hold government, employers and private sector accountable to the implementation of legal provisions on labour laws, youth employment, decent work and access to credit.
Working with the Global Platforms in Kenya, we use digital learning as a connector and platform for building movements to facilitate popular education, political participation and de-radicalisation for young wo/men living in poverty and exclusion.
The youth collectives we are engaging with, model innovative entrepreneurship and public-private initiatives. Our flagship project is the SGD-Ambassador.

Women's Rights

We empower women and girls living in poverty and exclusion to challenge violence and secure political participation. In the quest for a violence-free environment for women and girls living in poverty and exclusion, we work to establish and strengthen the women and girls, their institutions and solidarity groups to challenge VAW/G in both public and private spaces. Violence against women and girls can take many forms, like sexual and gender-based violence, unpaid care work and denial of other basic rights like the right to education.
We work with children in school (both boys and girls) to challenge VAW/G through education and advocacy activities like school clubs and build solidarity with religious and cultural leaders and institutions to challenge VAW/G. We continue to mobilise women and girls living in poverty and exclusion, their institutions and solidarity groups to monitor and influence the implementation of laws and policies (Protection against Domestic Violence Act, Prohibition of FGM Act, and Sexual Offences Act) that respond to VAW/G.
In Kenya, there still is a challenge of the exclusion of women and girls from leadership and decision-making positions. In response to this, CDS Kenya is facilitating basic political education for women living in poverty and exclusion to build their self-efficacy to position themselves for leadership in various platforms. We are mobilising women and youth movements to demand the implementation of the not more than 2/3 gender rule in elective and appointive positions as enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of Kenya (2010).

Emergencies and Resilience

We create communities whose lives and livelihoods are more resilient to all forms of disasters. Communities in Kenya particularly those in arid and semi-arid areas are susceptible and continue to experience climate-related impacts particularly prolonged droughts and floods amongst other hazards adversely impacting food and nutrition security. These hazards have led to the loss of livelihoods and productive assets, increased violence against women and girls, malnutrition and migration of pastoralists resulting in conflicts over natural resources particularly water and pastCDS Kenya responds to the humanitarian needs of affected communities in line with our unique humanitarian signature of women’s leadership, shifting power and accountability to affected communities. We employ both short and long-term interventions geared towards addressing immediate needs and protection of rights, especially of girls and women, while building the resilience of affected communities. In the short term, CDS Kenya promotes rights-based, qualitative, timely and accountable humanitarian interventions to communities in times of disaster in compliance with the Core Humanitarian Standards.
We do this by strengthening the capacity of women and youth living in poverty and exclusion, their institutions and solidarity groups to hold both levels of government to account in the delivery of an effective, timely and appropriate emergency response together promoting transformative changes linking to sustainable development.
On long term we work to build communities’ resilience by strengthening their lives and livelihoods through Disaster Risk Reduction and Climate Change Adaptation initiatives; advocate for programmes that prioritize sustainable development; natural resource management; protection; peacebuilding and conflict transformation. We have facilitated development and advocacy for adoption of women led drought preparedness plans at the county level, ensuring they are mainstreamed into the county integrated development plans. We strengthen communities living in poverty and exclusion and county governments’ capacity to develop and implement climate change adaptation and disaster management laws, policies, strategies and action plans.

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