On Wednesday October 23, 2013 Safaricom Foundation celebrated a decade of partnering with Kenyans to transform lives across the country. The Foundation, which is the largest corporate foundation in the country has in that period implemented over 700 projects countrywide.
Safaricom Foundation held a gala dinner at the KICC Tsavo Ballroom. Caroline Mutoko was the MC and she kept the program flowing. There were testimonials on what the foundation has done.
The total contribution of Safaricom Foundation towards Kenya’s development is Kshs1.8 billion.
Safaricom Foundation Chairman, Joseph Ogutu noted that the ten year celebration was a moment of reflection and acknowledgment of the innovation and goodwill of communities, the strength of partnerships and the immense contribution of Safaricom staff.
“We have ten years of results, demonstrated by sustainable programmes and strong and enduring community partnerships countrywide,” he said. “We don’t just give a cheque, we get involved through the entire life cycle of the project, we monitor projects, and we have an active staff participation programme,” Ogutu pointed out.
“As a business, we believe that Corporate Social Investments goes far beyond acts of philanthropy, but is a powerful contributor to sustainable development,” Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore said during the event held in Nairobi.
Bob Collymore said that the role of the foundation “has been to lend a helping hand to the creativity & energies of our partners” He said the 10 year journey has been made possible through the support of trusted partners, the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.
There was a beautiful video presentation on what Safaricom Foundation does and how it impacts communities. Safaricom Foundation wants to set the pace on how corporates run CSI. Vodafone provides 15% of funds for the Safaricom Foundation and Safaricom Limited provides the other 85%.
In the last five years, over a million people have benefited from various disaster response initiatives;
• 830,000 Kenyans have received specialized health services through mobile medical camps;
• over 680,000 children are now learning in classrooms; 232,000 people have been economically empowered through community based income generation projects and
• 172,000 people can access clean and safe water for domestic use through community water projects.
In addition, the Foundation has planted over 5.6 million trees in community nurseries and in large scale conservation projects; constructed181 classrooms and dorms countrywide and 50 special units to cater for the special learning needs of children with various forms of disabilities.
“We don’t just give a cheque, we get involved through the entire life cycle of the project, we monitor projects, and we have an active staff participation programme,” Ogutu added.
Founded in 2003, Safaricom Foundation works countrywide to improve the quality of life of Kenyans through partnerships to implement project in health, education, economic empowerment, environmental conservation, water, arts and culture, sports and disaster relief.
