Kenya: Safaricom Foundation Launches 2023-2026 Strategy

By Samuel Ouma [caption id="attachment_105403" align="alignnone" width="1280"] Safaricom Foundation CEO Joseph Ogutu (Left) and Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa[/caption] Safaricom Foundation, on Thursday, March 23, 2023, launched its 2023-2026 strategy, which will focus on community investments in Education, Health, and Economic Empowerment. Titled Partnering to Enhance Equity, the new strategy will see the Foundation deepen its community engagement through partnerships that are aligned with Safaricom’s purpose of transforming lives. As for the first time, the Foundation will also leverage funding from partners to create shared value for longer-term projects. “Our new strategy will rely a lot on partnerships, technology, and community engagement by bringing on-board all stakeholders in our programmes. That is why we have incorporated Sustainable Philanthropy as a key delivery component so that through such gainful partnerships, communities can continue thriving long after we have implemented our initiatives,” said Joseph Ogutu, Chairman of Safaricom Foundation. In the new 2023 to 2026 strategy, the Foundation will integrate ICT, Sustainable Philanthropy and Humanitarian Response as major execution components to ensure the delivery of long-lasting, impactful projects and philanthropic investments to address communities' urgent needs and immediate concerns. “In this 2023 to 2026 Safaricom Foundation strategy, we will heavily leverage technology across the three pillars to improve efficiency and scale impact. By 2026, we hope that Safaricom Foundation will have proven that it is possible to impact the community through technological interventions,” said Peter Ndegwa, CEO Safaricom. Under its Education pillar, the Foundation seeks to integrate digital skills to strengthen teacher and learner competencies and improve education outcomes. The Foundation will also increase access to Technical and Vocational Educational Training (TVET) for young people by establishing TVET centres of excellence and providing scholarships, apprenticeships, and tooling of graduates in readiness for the job market. Under health, the Foundation has incorporated adolescent health due to increased demand for quality reproductive services. This pillar will also improve its Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal, Child and Adolescent Health initiative (RMNCAH) to strengthen the capacity of National, County and Community Health Systems. It will also integrate screening for non-communicable diseases to enable early detection, treatment, and management. Technology will play a role in mapping the number of pregnant women in high-burden counties and be used in awareness creation in health interventions. The Economic Empowerment Pillar will include entrepreneurship programs, employment development, and creative, cheap financing to fully realize the potential of the youth. This will be achieved through Agribusiness, Ecoprenuership and Enterprise Development. Using technology, the Foundation will boost learning in good agricultural practices and agribusiness management and support innovations geared towards providing ICT solutions to agri-business management for startups.