NGO brings alumni together with current students, focusing on long-term success
NAIROBI, KENYA – CFK Africa, an international nonprofit with offices in Kenya and the U.S., will host an annual gathering of current and past academic scholarship recipients later this month, as part of a long-term project to improve their educational and career prospects.
“At CFK Africa, we believe that education is a lifelong pursuit, and our scholarship programs reflect that,” said CFK Africa Executive Director Jeffrey Okoro. “We don’t want to just pay school fees for a year and move on. We want to provide a long-term guarantee that our scholars can finish their education, make valuable connections within their community, and ultimately give back.”
While other NGO academic scholarships are awarded for a limited time, CFK Africa’s scholarship program stands out with a focus on the long term, continuing to provide networking, mentorship, and an ongoing support system for all scholars both past and present.
Recipients must live in one of 24 informal settlements in Kenya where CFK Africa works.
About 80 scholarship alumni are expected to meet on Dec. 16 in Kibera to honor the most recent group of graduates and network with each other. The event, themed “Illuminating Pathways,” will also feature a keynote address by CFK Africa Board of Directors member and previous deputy managing director at the Bank of Africa, Jane Kilonzo.
Through the scholarships, CFK Africa pays tribute to two remarkable individuals, Tim Schwartz-Barcott and Jim Rogers, who both had a profound impact on their respective fields and advocated for positive change.
The “Lux Sit” scholarship fund honors Schwartz-Barcott, a U.S. Marine, dedicated mentor, and advocate for peace who was committed to education and public service.
The James E. Rogers scholarship fund commemorates Rogers, a sustainability champion and former CEO and chairman of Duke Energy who was committed to improving lives around the world and often asserted that access to electricity should be a basic human right.
The scholarship funds honor both individual’s legacies, providing opportunity to talented students.
The organization’s approach to scholarships is part of its broader mission to develop youth leadership in informal settlements and empower the next generation to help implement sustainable community initiatives which improve public health and economic opportunity.
“Former recipients of our scholarship programs have gone on to do great things,” added Joshua Omweno, project officer for education and an alumnus of the scholarship program who now helps manage CFK Africa’s scholarship funds. “We could not be prouder of our scholarship program alumni and look forward to seeing what our current graduates do next.”
To read more about CFK Africa’s Lux Sit and James E. Rogers Scholarship Funds, visit: https://cfkafrica.org/lux-sit and https://cfkafrica.org/jim-rogers.
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About CFK Africa
Founded in 2001, CFK Africa works to improves public health and economic opportunity in informal settlements in Kenya through integrated health and youth leadership initiatives. Using a participatory development approach, the organization works directly with community residents to develop and implement sustainable programs. After marking 20 years of service in Kibera in 2021, CFK began expanding to additional informal settlements in Nairobi County and across eight counties in Kenya, including Kajiado, Kiambu, Kilifi, Kisumu, Machakos, Mombasa, and Nakuru. For more information, visit www.cfkafrica.org.
