Kenya

Despite economic growth, Kenya is beset by drought, poverty, health issues and high unemployment. With 75% of the workforce engaged in subsistence farming, frequent droughts and flooding caused by deforestation and soil erosion are a constant threat to lives and the economy. Kenya has long declared AIDS a natural disaster, since more than two million of its population are HIV positive and 1.5 million have already died from the disease.

To help Kenya combat these problems, between 2007 and 2009, we launched one of Africa’s largest communications initiatives distributing 10,000 radios to provide education, information to combat AIDS, advice on agriculture, climate, civic education and the environment.

Funded by Vodafone Group Foundation UK and Kenya’s Safaricom Foundation, this ground-breaking project conservatively reached more than half a million Kenyans – women and farmers in listening groups and young people in rural classrooms. It addressed major health, agricultural, civil society or environmental issues by providing non-stop radio access to information and education broadcasts countrywide.

We have created a collaborative network of partners, working in Kenya’s most vulnerable regions. Radios were distributed by Plan International, PATH, Kenya Meteorological Department, BBC World Service Trust, UNHCR, Safaricom Foundation, World Vision, Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation, African Health & Development International and Koch FM to support their education, health and peace development initiatives.