From Roots to Resilience: COSEO’s Journey of Community-Led Transformation in Baringo County
September 22, 2025
KCDF Newsletter, August 2025
September 23, 2025From September 10 to 12, 2025, KCDF hosted a delegation from the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) for a learning exchange visit. WACSI is a Ghana-based organisation that exists to strengthen civil society across West Africa to be responsive, collaborative, representative, resilient and influential through knowledge sharing, learning, connecting and influencing and advocacy.
During the visit, KCDF shared about her history, touching on the founding of KCDF, as highlighted in the book Seed to Institution. We also shared more on the various KCDF entities and their role in the sustainability of the Foundation. Leading the conversations was our Executive Director, Grace Maingi; the Foundation’s Vice Chair, Gordon Odundo; and Catherine Kiganjo, a former KCDF staff member who has been with KCDF since its inception.
“As KCDF, we exist to support our communities through building, strengthening and sustaining their core capacities by developing long-term collaborations with other actors such as individuals, private sector, governments and civil society organisations such as WACSI to achieve social justice in Kenya and beyond.”
WACSI Team visit to Beacon of Hope
From September 10 to 12, 2025, KCDF hosted a delegation from the West Africa Civil Society Institute (WACSI) for a learning exchange visit. WACSI is a Ghana-based organisation that exists to strengthen civil society across West Africa to be responsive, collaborative, representative, resilient and influential through knowledge sharing, learning, connecting and influencing and advocacy.
The team, comprised of members from WACSI’s senior management and the board of directors, visited Kenya to learn from KCDF’s sustainability model, including asset-building strategies such as endowments, social enterprises, and community philanthropy. The team sought to gain practical insights into enterprise setup, operational strategy, investment approaches, challenges, and lessons that could inform replication in their context.
The team also visited one of KCDF’s community partners, Beacon of Hope, a registered faith-based NGO in Kenya that addresses the HIV/AIDS pandemic among women in underserved communities. The visit aimed to explore how to develop a social enterprise, achieve financial sustainability amid declining donor support, and manage the operations of a large organisation. Beacon of Hope has previously partnered with KCDF through the Mott Foundation and the COVID-19 Recovery Project to reach various communities.
“We were very privileged to have worked with KCDF, and the biggest lesson we learned from them is how to be sustainable, resilient, and to think of investment instead of donor reliance. We are fortunate and privileged to have met KCDF as they opened our minds to think of how we can be financially sustainable,” said Jane Wathome, Founding Director of Beacon of Hope.
Beacon of Hope was an excellent case study for WACSI, thanks to its diverse income-generating establishments, including Beacon Hospital, Beacon Academy, Beacon Technical Training Institute, Youth Empowerment Program, Socio-Economic Empowerment Program, and Sifa Guest House. These initiatives generate income that enables the organisation to sustain its programmes and support vulnerable communities in Kajiado County.
The visiting team expressed keen interest in understanding Beacon of Hope’s financial model, management systems, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, staff retention strategies, tax compliance, and overall growth journey, including how they mobilised resources to establish and expand their infrastructure. The institution currently employs 130 staff members, with the longest serving joining in 2002, when it was founded.
“While we are tax-exempt because all our earnings go back to the community, our transparency has enabled the tax authorities to see our transactions and justify our exemption clearly. We also collaborate with the government on some projects, and county leaders have attested that our work with youth has reduced crime in the region.” Added Jane.
WACSI Team Visit to KCDF House
The WACSI team also visited KCDF House in Pangani – Nairobi, where they learned about its operations, tenant management, and investment oversight. The team expressed its gratitude to KCDF for the learning experience and for the invaluable lessons learned during the three-day visit.
“The visit has been very eye-opening. We have learned that it is possible to achieve great heights; we need to be persistent, visionary, and maintain a positive outlook toward investing. I believe this visit has shown my team and me that anything is possible if we focus on it,” said Nana Asantewa Afadzinu, WACSI’s Executive Director.
The learning exchange visit provided a valuable platform for knowledge sharing and collaboration between the two organisations. It reinforced the power of cross-regional learning to strengthen civil society’s resilience and impact, especially amid shrinking donor funding and evolving development challenges.
By collaborating with like-minded organisations in the region, such as WACSI, KCDF seeks to strengthen its relationships with diverse national, regional, and global stakeholders to amplify community impact, address complex challenges, and create lasting positive change. Such partnerships remain critical for KCDF to fulfil its mission of improving the quality of life for all community members.
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