Goal 1: End poverty in all its forms in areas of operation

COHECF KENYA strives to reduce poverty in the areas of operation by coming up with projects geared towards poverty reduction such as Youth Employability Skills Training, Financial Literacy, Entrepreneurship Development, Promoting agricultural activities geared towards improving family nutrition and income levels. We are working to ensure that the populations in our area of operation live on at least $ 1.90 a day.

Poverty is more than the lack of income and resources to ensure a sustainable livelihood. Its manifestations include hunger and malnutrition, limited access to education and other basic services, social discrimination and exclusion as well as the lack of participation in decision-making.

Goal 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture

Our important agricultural sector is under developed and largely inefficient, employing 75% of the workforce compared to less than 3% in the secure developed countries. Improving financial awareness and financial literacy will help us better manage our natural resources, better feed and provide for our growing population, while creating higher paying jobs and better grow our economy.

Many rural women and men can no longer make ends meet on their land, forcing them to migrate to cities in search of opportunities. The food and agriculture sector offers key solutions for development, and is central for hunger and poverty eradication.

Hunger

  • Globally, one in nine people in the world today (815 million) are undernourished
  • The vast majority of the world’s hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 per cent of the population is undernourished.
  • Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45 per cent) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children each year.
  • One in four of the world’s children suffer stunted growth. In developing countries the proportion can rise to one in three.
  • 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone.

Food security

  • Agriculture is the single largest employer in the world, providing livelihoods for 40 per cent of today’s global population. It is the largest source of income and jobs for poor rural households.
  • 500 million small farms worldwide, most still rain-fed, provide up to 80 per cent of food consumed in a large part of the developing world. Investing in smallholder women and men is an important way to increase food security and nutrition for the poorest, as well as food production for local and global markets.
  • Since the 1900s, some 75 per cent of crop diversity has been lost from farmers’ fields. Better use of agricultural biodiversity can contribute to more nutritious diets, enhanced livelihoods for farming communities and more resilient and sustainable farming systems.
  • If women farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million.
  • 1.4 billion People have no access to electricity worldwide – most of whom live in rural areas of the developing world. Energy poverty in many regions is a fundamental barrier to reducing hunger and ensuring that the world can produce enough food to meet future demand.

Goal 3: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages

Advancements in healthcare and technology are helping us to live longer, healthier, and higher quality lives, improving financial awareness and financial literacy can help us earn more and attract needed money and high quality education to take advantage of these healthcare advancements.

Ensuring healthy lives and promoting the well-being for all at all ages is essential to sustainable development. COHECF KENYA is willing and ready to partner with funders/donors to increase access to clean water and sanitation, reduce malaria, tuberculosis, polio and the spread of HIV/AIDS. However, many more efforts are needed to fully eradicate a wide range of diseases and address many different persistent and emerging health issues.

Child health

  • 17,000 fewer children die each day than in 1990, but more than six million children still die before their fifth birthday each year
  • Despite determined global progress, an increasing proportion of child deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Four out of every five deaths of children under age five occur in these regions.
  • Children born into poverty are almost twice as likely to die before the age of five as those from wealthier families.
  • Children of educated mothers—even mothers with only primary schooling—are more likely to survive than children of mothers with no education.

Maternal health

  • The infant mortality rate in Kenya remains higher compared to other East Africa states, new data by an UN-led action group shows, signaling weaknesses in the country’s health systems. Of every 1,000 babies born in Kenya, 23 die before the end of their first month, the UN inter-agency group for child mortality estimation says in a report for 2017. This places Kenya behind Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda in terms of survival rates for newborns.

HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

  • Recent studies indicate that whereas Kenya has made significant progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the national prevalence rates still raise concern. The KDHS 2008/09 states that “in Kenya, HIV prevalence has not changed significantly in the past five years. The HIV prevalence is 6.3% for women and men aged 15-49, compared with 6.7% in the 2003 KDHS and 7.4% in the 2007 Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey”.
  • The Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey (KAIS) confirmed this trend pointing out that HIV prevalence among key adult age group rose while incidence remains high with an estimated 125,000 -133,000 new cases annually among adults and 32,000 new pediatric infections per year7. Surprisingly, there have been higher infection rates among married couples bringing a new challenge. Earlier efforts had been directed to commercial sex workers and single persons, but now the focus must change.
  • On treatment and care, progress towards achieving universal access targets has been slower than expected. The Kenya National AIDS Strategic Plan (KNASP III) access target of reaching at least 80 percent of those in need is not expected to be achieved until 2013. This is partly due to the fact that whereas the number of people on ART has been increasing over time, those in need have been increasing at an even faster rate. The National AIDS and STI Control Programme (NASCOP) estimates that at least 68% of the nearly 570,000 people in need of ART were receiving it by end of June 2010. This chart illustrates KNASP III and NASCOP targeted number of people to be put on treatment over the current and upcoming four fiscal years.
  • With regard to condom use, NACC estimated an increase in condom supply from 28.4 million in 2005 to 36.2 million in 2006 and further to 64.5 million in 2007. This was attributed to the increase in demand and availability.

Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning

  • Despite great progress in the last few years, millions of children are still denied their right to education. Restricted access to education is one of the surest ways of transmitting poverty from generation to generation. Education is a vital human right, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Every girl and every boy should have the right to a quality education so that they can have more chances in life, including employment opportunities, better health and also to participate in the political process.
  • Education reduces poverty, boosts economic growth and increases income. It increases a person’s chances of having a healthy life, reduces maternal deaths, and combats diseases such as HIV and AIDS. Education can promote gender equality, reduce child marriage, and promote peace. In sum, education is one of the most important investments a country can make in its people and its future. COHECF KENYA is willing to partner with donors to improve basic literacy skills and youth and women employability and life skills training.  

Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls

While the world has achieved progress towards gender equality and women’s empowerment under the Millennium Development Goals (including equal access to primary education between girls and boys), women and girls continue to suffer discrimination and violence in every part of the world.

Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but a necessary foundation for a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world.

Providing women and girls with equal access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes will fuel sustainable economies and benefit societies and humanity at large.

COHECF KENYA strongly believes that women play a pivotal role in national development and should be given same opportunities as men. In this light, we empower women at various level of the society to be able to positively develop the community. COHECF KENYA is supporting Birunda Young Mothers with Short Technical Skills for Employment/ Self-Employment, use of art and sport as tools for empowerment.

Goal 6: Ensure access to water and sanitation for all

Clean, accessible water for all is an essential part of the world we want to live in. There is sufficient fresh water on the planet to achieve this. But due to bad economics or poor infrastructure, every year millions of people, most of them children, die from diseases associated with inadequate water supply, sanitation and hygiene.

  • Water scarcity affects more than 40 per cent of the global population and is projected to rise. Over 1.7 billion people are currently living in river basins where water use exceeds recharge
  • 2.4 billion people lack access to basic sanitation services, such as toilets or latrines
  • More than 80 per cent of wastewater resulting from human activities is discharged into rivers or sea without any pollution removal
  • Each day, nearly 1,000 children die due to preventable water and sanitation-related  diarrhea  diseases
  • Hydropower is the most important and widely-used renewable source of energy and as of 2011, represented 16 per cent of total electricity production worldwide
  • Approximately 70 per cent of all water abstracted from rivers, lakes and aquifers is used for irrigation
  • Floods and other water-related disasters account for 70 per cent of all deaths related to natural disasters

Water scarcity, poor water quality and inadequate sanitation negatively impact food security, livelihood choices and educational opportunities for poor families across the world. Drought afflicts some of the world’s poorest countries, worsening hunger and malnutrition. COHECF KENYA welcomes on board donors, funders, well wishers to be able to make clean drinking water a reality to make who lack this basic commodity.

Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all

Energy is central to nearly every major challenge and opportunity the world faces today. Be it for jobs, security, climate change, food production or increasing incomes, access to energy for all is essential.

Sustainable energy is opportunity – it transforms lives, economies and the planet. COHECF-KENYA willing and ready to partner with organization(s) promoting use of clean renewable energy.

  • One in five people still lacks access to modern electricity
  • 3 billion people rely on wood, coal, charcoal or animal waste for cooking and heating
  • Energy is the dominant contributor to climate change, accounting for around 60 per cent of total global greenhouse gas emissions
  • Reducing the carbon intensity of energy is a key objective in long-term climate goals.

Goal 8: Promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment and decent work for all

Roughly half the world’s population still lives on the equivalent of about US$2 a day. And in too many places, having a job doesn’t guarantee the ability to escape from poverty. This slow and uneven progress requires us to rethink and retool our economic and social policies aimed at eradicating poverty.

A continued lack of decent work opportunities, insufficient investments and under-consumption lead to an erosion of the basic social contract underlying democratic societies: that all must share in progress. . The creation of quality jobs will remain a major challenge for almost all economies well beyond 2015.

Sustainable economic growth will require societies to create the conditions that allow people to have quality jobs that stimulate the economy while not harming the environment. Job opportunities and decent working conditions are also required for the whole working age population.

As an organization, we are imparting employability skills training to youths to become employable and or start their own businesses and live a decent life.

Goal 10: Reduce inequality within and among countries

The international community has made significant strides towards lifting people out of poverty.  The most vulnerable nations – the least developed countries, the landlocked developing countries and the small island developing states – continue to make inroads into poverty reduction.  However, inequality still persists and large disparities remain in access to health and education services and other assets.

Additionally, while income inequality between countries may have been reduced, inequality within countries has risen. There is growing consensus that economic growth is not sufficient to reduce poverty if it is not inclusive and if it does not involve the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental.

To reduce inequality, policies should be universal in principle paying attention to the needs of disadvantaged and marginalized populations. COHECF-KENYA is striving to reduce inequality between individuals in the areas we operate in by offer short technical courses to the vulnerable youths, empowering vulnerable women and youth through art and sports and entrepreneurship development.

  • On average—and taking into account population size—income inequality increased by 11 per cent in developing countries between 1990 and 2010
  • A significant majority of households in developing countries—more than 75 per cent of the population—are living today in societies where income is more unequally distributed than it was in the 1990s
  • Evidence shows that, beyond a certain threshold, inequality harms growth and poverty reduction, the quality of relations in the public and political spheres and individuals’ sense of fulfillment and self-worth
  • Income inequality cannot be effectively tackled unless the underlying inequality of opportunities is addressed
  • Evidence from developing countries shows that children in the poorest 20 per cent of the populations are still up to three times more likely to die before their fifth birthday than children in the richest quintiles
  • Social protection has been significantly extended globally, yet persons with disabilities are up to five times more likely than average to incur catastrophic health expenditures
  • Despite overall declines in maternal mortality in the majority of developing countries, women in rural areas are still up to three times more likely to die while giving birth than women living in urban centers

Goal 11: Make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable

Cities are hubs for ideas, commerce, culture, science, productivity, social development and much more. At their best, cities have enabled people to advance socially and economically.

However, many challenges exist to maintaining cities in a way that continues to create jobs and prosperity while not straining land and resources. Common urban challenges include congestion, lack of funds to provide basic services, a shortage of adequate housing and declining infrastructure.

The challenges cities face can be overcome in ways that allow them to continue to thrive and grow, while improving resource use and reducing pollution and poverty. The future we want includes cities of opportunities for all, with access to basic services, energy, housing, transportation and more. Therefore, COHECF-KENYA is promoting garden/urban agriculture in the towns we operate in to help increase food supply and family incomes.

  • Half of humanity – 3.5 billion people – lives in cities today
  • By 2030, almost 60 per cent of the world’s population will live in urban areas
  • 95 per cent of urban expansion in the next decades will take place in developing world
  • 828 million people live in slums today and the number keeps rising
  • The world’s cities occupy just 3 per cent of the Earth’s land, but account for 60-80 per cent of energy consumption and 75 per cent of carbon emissions
  • Rapid urbanization is exerting pressure on fresh water supplies, sewage, the living environment, and public health
  • But the high density of cities can bring efficiency gains and technological innovation while reducing resource and energy consumption

Goal 15: Sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, halt biodiversity loss

Forests cover 30 per cent of the Earth’s surface and in addition to providing food security and shelter, forests are key to combating climate change, protecting biodiversity and the homes of the indigenous population.  Thirteen million hectares of forests are being lost every year while the persistent degradation of dry lands has led to the desertification of 3.6 billion hectares.

Deforestation and desertification – caused by human activities and climate change – pose major challenges to sustainable development and have affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of people in the fight against poverty. Efforts are being made to manage forests and combat desertification.

Forests

  • Around 1.6 billion people depend on forests for their livelihood. This includes some 70 million indigenous people
  • Forests are home to more than 80 per cent of all terrestrial species of animals, plants and insects

Desertification

  • 2.6 billion people depend directly on agriculture, but 52 per cent of the land used for agriculture is moderately or severely affected by soil degradation
  • As of 2008, land degradation affected 1.5 billion people globally
  • Arable land loss is estimated at 30 to 35 times the historical rate
  • Due to drought and desertification each year 12 million hectares are lost (23 hectares per minute), where 20 million tons of grain could have been grown
  • 74 per cent of the poor are directly affected by land degradation globally

Biodiversity

  • Of the 8,300 animal breeds known, 8 per cent are extinct and 22 per cent are at risk of extinction
  • Of the over 80,000 tree species, less than 1 per cent have been studied for potential use
  • Fish provide 20 per cent of animal protein to about 3 billion people. Only ten species provide about 30 per cent of marine capture fisheries and ten species provide about 50 per cent of aquaculture production
  • Over 80 per cent of the human diet is provided by plants. Only three cereal crops – rice, maize and wheat – provide 60 per cent of energy intake
  • As many as 80 per cent of people living in rural areas in developing countries rely on traditional plant-­‐based medicines for basic
    healthcare
  • Micro-organisms and invertebrates are key to ecosystem services, but their contributions are still poorly known and rarely acknowledged

Goal 16: Promote just, peaceful and inclusive societies

Goal 16 of the Sustainable Development Goals is dedicated to the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, the provision of access to justice for all, and building effective, accountable institutions at all levels.

  • Among the institutions most affected by corruption are the judiciary and police
  • Corruption, bribery, theft and tax evasion cost some US $1.26 trillion for developing countries per year; this amount of money could be used to lift those who are living on less than $1.25 a day above $1.25 for at least six years
  • The rate of children leaving primary school in conflict affected countries reached 50 per cent in 2011, which accounts to 28.5 million children, showing the impact of unstable societies on one of the major goals of the post 2015 agenda: education.
  • The rule of law and development have a significant interrelation and are mutually reinforcing, making it essential for sustainable development at the national and international level

Goal 17: Revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

A successful sustainable development agenda requires partnerships between governments, the private sector and civil society. These inclusive partnerships built upon principles and values, a shared vision, and shared goals that place people and the planet at the centre, are needed at the global, regional, national and local level.

Urgent action is needed to mobilize, redirect and unlock the transformative power of trillions of dollars of private resources to deliver on sustainable development objectives. Long-term investments, including foreign direct investment, are needed in critical sectors, especially in developing countries.

  • Official development assistance stood at $135.2 billion in 2014, the highest level ever recorded
  • 79 per cent of imports from developing countries enter developed countries duty-free
  • The debt burden on developing countries remains stable at about 3 per cent of export revenue
  • The number of Internet users in Africa almost doubled in the past four years
  • 30 per cent of the world’s youth are digital natives, active online for at least five years
  • But more four billion people do not use the Internet, and 90 per cent of them are from the developing world.

COHECF KENYA believes in both local and international partnership to be able to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) above. We welcome all partners who are interested in working with us to meet the thirteen of the seventeen SDGs stated here.