Since the COVID19 crisis began to unfold in Kenya, and around the globe, one of the brightest spots has been seeing communities come together, seeing organisations collaborate in response, and seeing individuals reach out to others with care and kindness.  All of this brings light and hope in dark times.

As you may have read here, Dignitas is now acting in response to the urgent needs we have seen in our communities as a result of COVID19, with a focus on children’s well-being and learning.  We are now supporting 49 Community Champions, to reach a total of 980 households, with many more waiting for our support.

Each household mapped in coordination with our Community Champions is equipped with tools and resources to ensure child well-being, and supports them to learn at home.  For some households, devastated by the economic impact of COVID19, this means distribution of food, and learning packets.  For others, it’s linking them to essential services that support their health and well-being in this season.  For all households, our Community Champions are critical partners to support and counsel families in these dark times.

We could not have made this progress without support from some amazing partners and volunteers!

We’ve been so grateful for our partnership with Team4Tech, and our fabulous Animator Ashley.  Dignitas was selected as one of their nonprofit partners last year, and their support has been instrumental in this season.  Ashley has been working around the clock to bring our training curriculum to life in short animations that will bolster remote training and coaching for Leaders of Learning in our communities.

Our urgent response to needs in our community had to be digital and remote in the interest of public health.  Synthetic have made this possible by working with us to develop an amazing ChatBot that delivers training and supports coaching of our Leaders of Learning.  We are deeply appreciative of their work on this project, and believe it will impact many lives!

We are also grateful to Safaricom PLC, who have donated a number of tablets for our Community Champions to use to deliver support, communicate across the team and with their household clusters, and track the impact of the program.

Finally, none of this would be possible without inspiring School Leaders like James from Kawangware, who has such great positive energy and has been busy recruiting other school leaders to lend a helping hand in whatsoever way they can.  Or perhaps like Samuel, a school leader from Kayole who quickly organized his team to deal with the school closure.  He organised his teachers to develop individualized learning packs for each child, and they are now looking at ways to support the learners at home.

And now, we need YOU!  Around the world, Tuesday May 5th has been declared ‘Giving Tuesday Now’, a global day of unity, generosity and hope!  Please get involved and help to fund this urgent response here – you can give online or via MPesa.  From as little as $12, you can support a family in need.  If you’d like to volunteer time or skills, and get involved in other ways please do reach out here.  Please do support these Community Champions as they work tirelessly to keep children safe and learning!