Peer Educators
SCOPE has trained over 500 peer educators, mentors and other community health volunteers since 2007.
“We are well known in the community … delivering messages against drug abuse and the rights of the youth. I see big changes in people’s behaviour because of our work”.
Daniel Frazer Jaji, a SCOPE trained Youth Peer
Educator in Ganze District.
SCOPE has trained more than 200 Youth Peer educators who work extensively in the community to encourage change of risky behaviour. As well as helping the community stay healthy, Peer Education also helps the youth express themselves, demand their rights to education as well as been given confidence to develop into well-balanced adults.
Business Development Services (BDS)
SCOPE has initiated a new business development project to empower individuals and groups from low-income communities with the skills and resources to achieve secure livelihoods. The program involves training and mentoring small-scale traders, who are them linked to marketing groups and micro-finance institutions. It is a cornerstone of all SCOPE projects and based on these three pillars:
- Sustainability for our clients – All of our projects are built around creating sustainable livelihoods for our clients and their beneficiaries, BDS is an integral part of all the SCOPE programs.
- Community Empowerment – Donor funded programs are just a first step into the community. The challenge is to continue to address the issues existing in the community after the donors’ projects are completed. SCOPE ensures that the community grows independent of donor funds to develop themselves and create sustainable livelihoods for themselves.
- Sustainability for SCOPE – BDS is intended to be a viable income generator for SCOPE. BDS allows unrestricted income that allows SCOPE to sustain itself by paying staff and overhead, and rely less on funding from donors. This is accomplished by providing business services to the community-at-large on a fee basis.
“SCOPE assisted, first with basic business training where we realized we could start a profitable bakery if we could get a large capacity oven. Then, SCOPE helped us with the application for a low-interest loan from Zidisha. Today our JoyFo Bakery is celebrating six months in business. We are profitable, repaying the loan and creating a business our children and grandchildren can run.”
Albert & Joyce Fondo, JoyFo Bakery
Zowerani, Tezo District
Food Distribution
In partnership with the Ministry of Health, the World Food Programme and FHI, SCOPE implements the ‘Food by Prescription’ programme in Kilifi and Kaloleni districts.
The intervention aims to help people living with HIV and AIDS, orphaned or vulnerable children and pregnant women improve their nutritional status. These groups are particularly vulnerable to malnutrition.
Giving HIV patients highly nutritious food by prescription enables them to maintain good health. It empowers them to lead rewarding lives so that they can start to fend for themselves.
To avoid food dependency, we have designed an exit programme that train clients on basic business skills and links them to micro-finance groups so that they can save and get loans. The aim is to enable individuals and groups start income-generating activities and permanently exit from the programmme.
Reaching out to Youth in Schools
SCOPE has introduced Smart Youth Clubs in schools to empower young boys and girls with life skills and reproductive health education.
The clubs give young people the knowledge to help them maintain their sexual health and delay sexual debut. The program strengthens self-esteem of the youth and children.
SCOPE works with primary and secondary schools across the Kilifi District, often in conjunction with existing school groups such as scouts, health clubs etc.
Providing Sanitary Towels to Girls
Many young girls in poor communities do not have access to safe sanitary towels at subsidized price. As a result, many miss out on school because of discomfort during their periods or resort to using unsafe materials. Sometimes the girls are so desperate to find sanitary towels that they are exposed to risky sexual behavior with boyfriends or older men to get money.
Smart Youth Clubs support girls by providing them with hygienic sanitary towels and information on their use. In addition, SCOPE has introduced an innovative new program to help girls make their own hygienic, reusable towels.
Environment
SCOPE’s environmental program works with communities to promote sustainable management use of natural resources. Our activities focus on protecting the coastal eco-system and promoting healthy urban environments.
Promoting Agriculture
SCOPE is working with the Ministry of Agriculture to decentralize services. Through the Decentralized Agriculture Support Structures (DASS), we are helping deliver extension services to communities in hard-to-reach areas in Kilifi and Kaloleni districts.
In Summary
SCOPE was established by local health professionals to address HIV and AIDS and other health challenges. Since then we have grown and diversified our activities into areas such as agriculture and the environment. Despite this growth, we have remained close to our communities.
Our local focus means we identify with the real needs of communities, work in partnership with them and other stakeholders to find lasting solutions to critical challenges. Implementing many large projects and working in partnership with others organizations has enhanced our capacity in project management, monitoring and evaluation as well as financial management.
SCOPE is always looking for volunteers and potential staff members with a passion for community development to assist in our projects. SCOPE offers a Mentorship program for interns to live and work with a rural family for 30-to-90 days. The interns have opportunities to assist the family with such things as tutoring, agricultural training, water and sanitation improvement.
