Nairobi City County has partnered with Kidogo Organization with an aim of nurturing child care by providing affordable childcare.
The County Government together with the organisation also aims at supporting and providing adequate nutrition to every child and high quality of early childhood care in in the capital.
Kidogo is an organisation that has a mission of ensuring that every child has the opportunity to reach their full potential by providing affordable and high quality early childhood care.
Beatrice Sakaja, the wife to Nairobi Governor Johnstone Sakaja, has reiterated that Kidogo is giving children the foundation they need to succeed socially, emotionally, health-wise and developmental-wise by not only offering service, but also providing hope, opportunity, dignity and a brighter future to the Kenyan child.
Mrs. Sakaja highlighted that the Kidogo team has been transformative by expanding to new communities, developing innovative training programs for caregivers and forging new partnerships that amplify the impact of raising early childhood development and education.
“The commitment, passion and tireless dedication you all show in transforming the lives of young children and families is nothing short of inspiring. Your work is truly changing the future, one child, one family, and one community at a time,” she expressed.
She at the same time commended the Nairobi City-County Government for setting out an ambitious target to make Nairobi a city of hope, dignity and opportunity for all children to thrive by 2030.
Mrs. Sakaja noted that the county government has prioritized in promoting good health and responsive child caregiving to children aged below three years through initiatives such as the provision of quality, stimulating and nurturing care services, and quality opportunities for early learning through the over 230 Early Childhood Development (ECD) centers in Nairobi County.
Other priorities, according to the First Lady of Nairobi County, include provision of adequate nutrition to all children through Nairobi County initiative such as Dishi na County, support for provision of nurturing care and opportunities for outdoor play in communal spaces as well as creating awareness.
She urged Kidogo and other organizations in the child care space to collaborate and support counties including Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado in transforming the lives of the children in Kenya since ECD is considered as one of the most powerful investments in the future of any nation.
Further, Mrs. Sakaja acknowledged the commitment of the government and stakeholders for their investment mission in the future of Kenya and helping every child to access quality care and education they need to reach their full potential in a society regardless of background or circumstances.
“As we look forward to the future, let us continue to build on the momentum of today. Let us be bold in our vision, ambitious in our goals and let us be unwavering in our commitment to the children and families who depend on us,” rallied Mrs. Sakaja.
Additionally, she encouraged the Kidogo team, partners, ‘mamapreneurs’ and ‘papapreneurs’ to collaborate in creating a great future for inspiration and empowerment to every Kenyan child.
Director of Education, Nairobi City County Ruth Owuor highlighted on what the city has done including the formation of the child collaborative action where all partners in the child care space have come together.
The Director added that Nairobi County has a multi-sectoral approach in its transformative agenda on health that works together in ensuring that every child is immunized and monitored for child growth by working closely with community health promoters to reach every household level.
She further revealed that the county government, through the Governor, has a school feeding programme that reaches all the ongoing school-aged children in public schools and ECD centers to the junior secondary level.
“We provide free ECD capitation, where one joins without paying a single coin. This is to help the parents and guardians have a breathing space from paying school fees for their children,” stated Owuor.
Owuor disclosed that, under the policy and regulations of Child Care Facilities, Nairobi County has drafted regulations that will help the daycare space be regulated and work together with Kidogo Organization to come up with the standards that will ensure that every child gets the proper quality care that they need.
Kidogo CEO and Founder, Sabrina Habib reported that the organization has currently impacted 2,000 ‘mamapreneurs’ persons who care for children directly reaching 50,000 children and still has a goal of reaching a million children.
“Our goal over the next five years is to expand to 50,000 ‘mamapreneurs’ reaching a million children to get the bright start to life and grow up to become the citizens of the country,” she announced.
The CEO recalled how Kidogo started with two centers with the first gala having five ‘mamapreneurs’, upon which the current number has risen to 2,000 mamapreneurs as caregivers to children, maintaining that the growth of Kidogo is no longer just a vision but a reality.
“We think that in order to run a good child care center, you need to have the nurturing, loving qualities of a mama. But you also have to be a problem solver, a hustler who possesses those skill sets of an entrepreneur,” stressed Habib.
She also presented the considerations for one to be a caregiver insisting that the operators in addition to having the love and ability to care for children, should also tailor the relevant message to the government on the issues of policy and that is what Kidogo does through the mamapreneur program by finding daycares being run from home, stand-alone centres of part of a school.
“We do the upskilling, then train, mentor, coach and connect mamapreneurs to other communities so that they can provide that peer-to-peer accountability as we ultimately perform quality assurance,” mentioned Habib.
She emphasized collaboration in order to make child care a norm in Kenyan society and an election issue since valuing child care is a necessary component of a thriving economy.
By Sharon Atieno
