Guided by Powerful Partnerships
2024 CFK Africa Annual Report
These words guided our work in 2024, all reflecting our Theory of Change principle, ‘Powerful Partnerships’—the belief that we are stronger when we work together.
CFK Africa was founded on the basis of grassroots partnerships. Our 24 years of impact have been a result of forging strong partnerships with the private sector, national government, county governments, Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs), Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), local communities, and individuals. These deep networks have ensured the longevity, effectiveness, and sustainability of our efforts to improve health and empower youth leaders in Kenya’s informal settlements.
In 2024, CFK Africa empowered youth to step into leadership roles, used sports as a force for social change, responded to community emergencies like catastrophic flooding, removed barriers to maternal and child health, and developed innovative programs to combat gender-based violence. Whether it was through our community youth soccer tournaments across Kenya, mobile medical clinics, or girl’s parliament advocacy events, our impact is made stronger because of unity in action.
The achievements detailed in this annual report belong to all of us: the partners who invested in our mission, the youth who stepped up as changemakers, the patients who placed their trust in our healthcare facilities, and our talented team who dedicate their time and expertise to serve our communities.
Looking forward to 2025, powerful partnerships will be more important than ever, given new uncertainties around global health and development funding. We know informal communities face extreme vulnerabilities which require systemic, dignified, and coordinated solutions. And we believe these solutions are possible when we work together, play to our strengths, and build powerful coalitions. This year, we will continue to nurture powerful partnerships to maintain the resilience of our services and communities as we face new challenges.
Thank you for being one of our partners and standing with CFK Africa.
Jeffrey Okoro,
Executive Director
Rye Barcott,
Co-founder; Board Chair
Expecting mother Jackline was eagerly anticipating giving birth to her first child.
She didn’t anticipate the challenges she would face going into labor during the 2024 Kenya Medical Worker’s strike. When her contractions began, Jackline traveled to three hospitals to deliver but faced closures and prohibitive fees to deliver.
After 24 exhausting hours of seeking medical help, Jackline finally gave birth to a healthy, bouncy baby girl at Tabitha Maternity Home, which continued to serve women and children during the doctors’ strikes. Tabitha Maternity Home remains committed to the women and children in the heart of Kibera and beyond, especially during times of crisis.
Sophia Salim found her appreciation for community service when she joined CFK Africa’s Lux Sit & Jim Rogers Scholarship Program.
Her village in Eastern Kenya faced constant water shortages, forcing the community to walk long distances to gather water.
While there was groundwater available, a lack of resources constrained her community from digging a well for easier water access. With the skills she learned in CFK Africa’s program, Sophia organized an advocacy campaign to gain support to drill a well, providing clean water to over 1,000 people.
Caroline is one of many teenage mothers in Kenya who initially struggled to remain in school after having a child.
She was out of school for almost a year when a friend introduced her to CFK Africa’s Funzo project, where she received wrap-around support in returning to school. Now, Caroline is attending Olympic High School in Kibera and is passionate about business, English, and mathematics.
While returning to school has brought challenges like missing classes to breastfeed her baby, Caroline remains determined and undeterred. Not only does she utilize the services provided by the Funzo project, but she also regularly takes her baby for monthly check-ups at the Tabitha Medical Clinic. CFK Africa has become an integral part in her journey to achieving her goals.
For the past nine years, Meshack Ochieng has committed to serving as a Community Health Promoter in Kibera with CFK Africa.
He connects individuals and families to essential healthcare through health talks, counseling, home visits, beneficiary tracing, follow-ups, and referrals. Through these efforts, Meshack ensures that no one is left behind in accessing healthcare.
Beyond health, Meshack is deeply invested in education and youth empowerment. Whether it’s helping a sick child get medical care, counseling a struggling mother, or ensuring a student remains in school, he takes pride in being a trusted support system for the Kibera community. “For me, this work is a calling. My passion for community service is deeply embedded in my life, and every day, I am driven by the desire to see healthier, stronger, and more educated families in Kibera.”
who would not otherwise have access to reliable and affordable care.
We are committed to advancing global health equity. US Senator Cory Booker visited our Tabitha Medical Clinic, which partners with CDC-Kenya to host a major urban infectious disease surveillance platform and serves over 35,000 patients annually.
with career-ready skills, increasing economic resilience and lifetime earning potential.
Lidweye Asega, a beneficiary of our TechCraft apprenticeship program, dreams of starting his own fashion line. By fostering creativity and innovation, TechCraft opened doors for youth to achieve meaningful employment and financial independence in 2024.
who are outstanding individuals and groups dedicated to transforming slums.
US Ambassador Meg Whitman presented the Kibera Soccer Women FC with an award for their service, using their platform as athletes to champion social change in Kibera and beyond.
in 2024, investing more resources and staff into our community tournaments.
Harnessing the power of sports, we collaborated with young people and coaches to significantly scale our soccer programs in 2024 to include 16 informal settlements across 5 counties.
to find their voices, promoting health and combatting gender-based violence.
CFK Africa’s Girls’ Empowerment Program is rooted in the idea that investing in girls drives enduring change, and empowers young mothers who in turn are able to build better lives for themselves and their children.
across Kenya’s informal settlements in 2024, of which 58,876 (34%) are youth.
We are inspired by the community service activities led by our Lux Sit & Jim Rogers Scholars, which engage all generations, nurturing a commitment to authentic service.
All we do at CFK Africa is a product of listening and co-creating alongside our communities. Our Theory of Change is an ongoing process of reflection to explore impact and how it happens in our informal settlement context. These guiding principles enable us to learn from others, build a common understanding of our work, and develop clarity in our strategies and partnerships.
We see community engagement as the core of community development, and we work hand in hand with communities in Kenyan informal settlements to take the lead in shaping change efforts.
We embrace continuous improvement, learning from failures as well as community feedback, and staying responsive to evolving needs.
We constantly monitor our programs, gather feedback, and adapt in real time to address emerging challenges and seize new opportunities.
We work with partners to combine our strengths, pool resources, and share expertise toward solutions that are impactful and comprehensive.
We consider the broader context of our work and recognize the interconnected factors that affect our initiatives.
We prioritize open and honest communication to build trust within the organization, within the communities we serve, and among our partners.
We assess existing initiatives to avoid duplication and seek opportunities for collaboration.
We appreciate co-learning and co-creating new opportunities alongside our partners:
With research partner Dr. Sean Sylvia, Professor of Health Economics at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, we are pioneering e-health innovations in informal settlements. Our collaborative research will generate relevant and localized AI case studies for a mobile health app in development for use by health workers in slums.
We partnered with Cloudflare, a global technology company, to propel our sports for development program forward. As the lead sponsor for our Kibera FC soccer teams and community youth soccer tournaments, this collaboration promotes equity for our soccer teams and increases hope and growth for youth in Kibera and beyond.
Together with Save the Children Kenya and the Kenyan Ministry of Health, we launched a new maternal, newborn, and child health (MNCH) project to ensure access and utilization of MNCH services in Kamukunji and Makadara slums, training 200 Community Health Promoters in delivering quality care.
We believe strength comes from partnerships and no challenge is too big when we stand together. Through shared expertise and pooled resources, we kept pushing forward to find new solutions that addressed the Kenya Medical Workers’ strike, catastrophic flooding, political protests, and disease outbreaks.
Devastating flooding in March was catastrophic to families living along the Nairobi River affecting nutrition, livelihoods, school schedules, and health.
Our crisis response both addressed immediate needs of families for shelter, food, and clean drinking water, and the long-term disease burden of waterborne diseases.
We deepened our partnership with the Kibera Community Emergency Response Team to be better prepared for emergent challenges and to rally the community to share information and resources during times of crisis.
In March, 7,000+ members of the Kenya Medical Practitioners, Pharmacists, and Dentists Unions went on strike, paralyzing access to healthcare.
CFK Africa facilities worked to bridge the gap in service provision, providing care to a large influx of patients to our clinics and expanding our partnerships with healthcare providers to improve referral pathways.
In August, the Africa CDC declared the spread of Mpox a health emergency. CFK Africa mitigated the risks of disease spread by increasing health education, sharing rapid info on its symptoms and where to seek treatment, and increasing health education outreach.
In 2024, our clinical and community healthcare teams improved health outcomes and increased health equity alongside partners.
“Our partnerships help build healthier informal settlements. Partnerships with the County Ministry of Health spread awareness of health education and increase health-seeking behaviors while partnerships with public facilities like Mbagathi Hospital strengthen referral pathways for surgical procedures. Together we are improving healthcare access and quality.”
Dr. Dennis Kinoti, CFK Africa Clinical Services Lead
Our facilities improved the health of
and their children with antenatal and post-natal care services.
YFS reached a remarkable
underscoring the importance of targeted healthcare for youth in informal settlements.
Skilled nurses conducted
ensuring that women and children have a strong foundation of health.
CFK Nutritionists Screened
for malnutrition, removing some of the first barriers to thriving affecting young children in slums.
Our nutrition project expanded its collaboration with Early Childhood Education Centers and daycare centers to reach more children under 5, training teachers and caregivers on the benefits of balanced diets and ensuring that malnourished children enrolled in these centers received urgent medical attention and management.
To improve our mass communication and engagement efforts with the community and beneficiaries, we piloted SMS messaging to market services, announce community outreach events, and deliver health education information, such as the Mpox outbreak across Africa, reducing risk of disease spread and increasing access to care.
We were honored to be recognized by Nairobi City County for the 2024 Health Service Delivery Awards! CFK Africa facilities are proud to have been acknowledged as Best Performing in Neonatal Care, Leadership, and Human Resource Management.
In 2024, our Youth Leadership & Education team collaborated with like-minded organizations to empower youth, ensuring that they have equal opportunity to grow into their full potential.
“We witnessed the power of strategic partnerships in enhancing youth leadership and employment. By partnering with like-minded organizations in 2024, we provided skills training, job connections, and vital resources, ensuring young people have the tools to grow in both hands-on and tech-driven industries. Together, we are not just opening doors, we are building pathways to sustainable opportunities.”
Martha Otieno, CFK Africa Senior Program Officer for Youth
The Best Schools Initiative strengthened the education of
students in 47 informal schools, setting them up for future academic success.
The Lux Sit and Jim Rogers scholarship program supported
from 8 counties enabling them to stay on track towards academic and personal growth.
Master Apprentices in our TechCraft Program Trained
in trades aligned with their interests and national demand.
Our sports team engaged
in 5 counties through community soccer tournaments, the only tournaments hosted at such a scale throughout Kenyan slums, promoting positive behavior change and leadership among vulnerable youth.
Our 2024 Peacock Fellows from UNC Chapel Hill collaborated with our Youth Leadership and Education team! Ben Bramson, a UNC undergraduate student studying religion, pre-medicine, and conflict management, engaged with our sports team to enhance the Values-Based Sports curriculum. Mary Feser, a UNC masters of public health student in applied epidemiology, engaged with our Girls’ Empowerment Program to refine impact measurement and evaluation methods.
“Working with CFK Africa on the Girls’ Empowerment Program has reinforced my belief that giving girls and women the tools they need to succeed can lead to transformative change, even in the most challenging circumstances.”
– Mary Feser, CFK Africa Peacock Fellow
Program Lead Keith Obiero presented CFK Africa’s study, "Coaches as Key Mentors for At-Risk Youth: The Impact of CFK’s Value-Based Sports Education in Kibera," at the 8th International Council for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation at Kenyatta University as a model for engaging vulnerable youth through sports.
Girls’ empowerment activities are strategically embedded across CFK Africa’s health, youth and sports programs.
Recognizing females face unique challenges in informal settlements, CFK Africa builds self-agency among girls, provides them with access to a support network, and encourages them to develop and use their voices and practice leadership, ensuring girls can reach their full potential.
participated in CFK Africa’s Girls Parliament, learning about their rights, developing leadership skills, and engaging in advocacy efforts on the issues that matter most to them.
utilized services from our Menstrual Hygiene Lab, advancing dignity on menstrual hygiene management and increasing understanding of sexual and reproductive health.
on the Kibera Soccer Women FC team participated in intensive mentorship training with CFK Africa to serve as social change champions on issues girls in slums care about.
We raised public awareness on key issues through large-scale events that united all ages and inspired action. Our events celebrating International Day of the Girl Child and World Menstrual Hygiene Day tackled issues affecting girls and women not just in our communities, but globally.
We expanded our Funzo Project to include a vocational training pathway for teenage mothers outside of the formal schooling system. CFK Africa enrolled 50 young mothers into a pilot program to develop work readiness skills so that they can provide for themselves and their children.
Our new compound-to-compound policing model empowered landlords to combat SGBV. Landlords are trained to engage with local leaders and residents within their compounds for violence prevention, early reporting of incidents of violence against women, and referring survivors for treatment.
A special thanks to donor-advised fund and giving platform partners who ensure the sustainability of our work including Benevity, Blackbaud, Fidelity Charitable, and the PayPal Giving Foundation.
Our committed partners, generous supporters, and talented beneficiaries are behind all of the stories of impact collected in this report. We are deeply grateful to everyone who made, and continues to make, our work possible. Thank you for being a part of our community, empowering youth, and improving health in informal settlements in Kenya!
*Data from FY 2024 audited financials.
CFK Africa benefits from a joint Kenya-US Board of Directors and a 25 member global Advisory Council who volunteer their leadership, expertise, and commitment to empowering informal settlement communities. With vast experience across public health, youth development, technology innovations, operations and finance, girls’ empowerment and community engagement, they support our team in navigating challenges and identifying new opportunities. We remain grateful for their global guidance.
In 2024, we thanked Brett Bullington, Jennifer Coffman, and James Ndiangui for their years of service as they rotated off the Board of Directors, and we welcomed Peter Dixon (US) and Roseanne Mugo (Kenya) to the Board.
The Women on Boards Network (WOBN)-Kenya recognized Board Director Jane Kilonzo with a prestigious 2024 Women on Boards Award. Over the past two decades, Jane Kilonzo has dedicated countless hours to leadership roles in eight organizations, including CFK Africa. Her leadership is characterized by purpose, authenticity, innovation, and a focus on sustainable impact. Congratulations, Jane!
“CFK Africa’s work is particularly meaningful to me as it enriches and permanently changes lives for generations. Having engaged with the organization since its inception and at different stages, I have seen this ripple effect impact lives in a sustainable way, particularly because the focus is on youth. Listening to presentations by the young men and women who have gone through our programs gives me a sense of fulfillment that is indescribable.”
Jane Kilonzo, CFK Africa Board Director
2025 marks the launch of our new, five-year strategic plan and mission to empower youth in slums, guiding our partnerships, our programs, and our impact.
Our strategy builds on our 24 years of impact to tackle community challenges like childhood nutrition, access to education for young scholars and for teenage mothers, and meaningful employment with locally-led solutions.
Despite new threats to global development, our focus remains on empowering our communities, strengthening partnerships, and driving sustainable change.
Who We Are
CFK Africa is a registered NGO in Kenya and 501(c)(3) nonprofit in the U.S. that empowers youth in slums.
Quick Links
Stay Connected
Website Design by Carrboro Creative | Photo credit site-wide: CFK Africa