Volunteering in Kenya - Programs targeting poverty

Also, I have visited a fair few schools throughout the continent, and have yet to find one where there are 150 kids in one class. The majority had 30-40 pupils per class, the same as Australia, though one did have nearly 50 kids per class in the lower grades.

Ok so I was feeling a little emotional, but all this theorising does take its toll...

Whilst results from volunteering are indeed mixed, the right programs and people do make a difference. Also having reviewed all the various articles posted above by no doubt passionate individuals, the issues mainly seem to relate to unskilled / gap year volunteering, with the fault sometime being in the program and at others at the blatant inexperience / naiveness of the volunteer

I am however a professional with 10+ years work experience and have undertaken skills based volunteering back home with much benefit to the organisations and of course for me personally. I believe it comes down to finding the right programs, hence the request for recommendations from people who actually have volunteered with good programs/organisations.

My bad for not making this clear upfront and having to deal with all this stuff of stealing local teachers jobs, doing harm to orphans, etc, etc ....

Anyway, RichardMoore thanks again for referring me onto Hostel Hoff. Since they could not find a full time program for me aligned to my skills they have put me onto another organisation that seems great.

For the benefit of anyone else who may stumble upon this post when looking into skill based volunteering, it's called Equity for Africa.

The US Peace Corps is probably the best volunteer placement program in the world. (I had the wrong nationality to qualify, to my eternal regret.)

Their volunteers are not required to be experts in any field, but they go through an extensive cultural orientation before they begin their placement. As well, they get specific technical training related to the work they will undertake. They serve for two years. In its 50 years of operation there have been amazingly few scandals involving Corps personnel, though as a US government agency they are always vulnerable to general political criticism.

I know a few ex-Corps guys who stayed on to make meaningful careers in Africa.

Yes, that blows the top off those Kenyan baby-kissing holidays that I so often see the European girls doing (mainly Dutch for some reason). I agree with the others here who said they can do more harm than good, giving the children false hopes of adoption.

Re school volunteering, I think the non-unionized private schools may be the best option to try.

Having spent significant time "volunteering" in Kenya, I unfortunately agree with much of what's been said on here - that short-term volunteering is done largely for the benefit of the volunteer, and often makes little lasting impact on the ground. That said, I've also been in the position of coordinating things for these same short term volunteers, and have definitely seen some areas in which one can make a real and lasting impact.

To the OP, you don't say anything about what areas interest you or what special skills you have. The area where I have seen short term volunteers make impacts is in what one would call "horizontal service." So many people want to travel to poor places and reach down and touch those they see as needy or less fortunate. What is really needed is for people to come and engage in the legitimate transfer of knowledge and skills to those who might be seen as their social equals or peers in the global perspective.

I worked with an organization that provided test preparation services for Kenyans looking to take international college level entry exams. We had individuals in Kenya willing to do this training, but we needed short-term volunteers to train these trainers. In doing so, the volunteers passed on a skill set that was able to continue bearing fruit long after they left.

Is there an area in which you might consider yourself capable of doing something like this? If so, then look for established organizations in Kenya - even professional operations - that could benefit long term from your impact. It's not the romantic ideal of kissing babies or feeding orphans, but it is a transfer of intellectual capital that stands to benefit far more in the long run.

mzungu, yes the point of skills volunteering program is skills transfer. In effect this is what we do on a day to day basis at work when working with junior staff...it's just doing it at a different location.

For the doubter 4-6 weeks is actually a good timing for discrete projects, and with the option of getting the project spec beforehand and staying in touch remotely afterwards, it is actually is a reasonable amount of time to see a piece of work to an end.

I am a strategy professional, currently working in banking, with a management consulting background. This given me a pretty wide ranging business/commercial skill set...

Was hoping for contributing towards programs targeting poverty, through education and empowerment of women and children (as personally I believe the best way to break the cycle).

NGOs looking for support for Micro-financing programs (targeting women) would have been ideal...

Happy to be recommended any good "horizontal service" program ...

I did a rudimentary google search of micro-financing NGOs in Kenya and there's plenty of organizations that work with volunteers. Why not send out emails stating your skill set, the time frame in which you like to volunteer, and what you'd like to achieve by volunteering. This way you might be able to get a better personal sense of what type of organization you'd be working with and if it's the most productive way to help.

you can check helpexchange that what I used. you have farms, schools, orphenages,...

OP - "I am however a professional with 10+ years work experience and have undertaken skills based volunteering back home with much benefit to the organisations"

If you had have said that in the first place your responses may have been different. There is a big difference between someone who wants to do "up to 3 weeks of volunteering work" that looks to be a 'novice traveller' and someone with transferable skills.

Good luck.

Hi Reeta,
Check out www.kuleavillages.org or find Kulea Villages on Facebook. We bring volunteers to work with us for short term trips, and will have a small team of volunteers in Tanzania (not too far from Dar) at the end of September. If interested, we could talk about the possibility of your joining us. We are committed over the long-term to a sustainable method of helping orphans through working with the local Kulea Childcare Villages NGO. We are approved in the USA as a non-profit and in Kenya and Tanzania. The main thing to remember where-ever you volunteer is that the most important thing you can give is your time and presence and knowledge-sharing, not material or monetary gifts. If you serve with a group and see a need you really desire to help with, go to the organization's leadership and share with them. They have a "big picture" view of who is truly needy, who shows up when a foreigner shows up, etc. I think it's great you want to serve others! Have a great trip1