Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO)

SHOFCO is a Kenyan registered Charity Organization with its headquarters in Gatwekera – Kibera and other offices in New York, Mathare Slum, Mukuru Slum and Bangladesh with a plan to move to other slums in Kenya with a VISION of “Building Urban Promise from Urban Poverty.” It is a grassroots movement that catalyzes large-scale transformation in urban slums by providing critical services for all, community advocacy platforms, and education and leadership development for women and girls.

Shining Hope for Communities is a 501(c)(3) non-profit founded in 2009 by CEO Kennedy Odede and COO Jessica Posner.  Kennedy grew up and lived in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya for 23 of his 26 years.  There, he saw the bleak prospects for women first-hand. After seeing many women’s lives crushed like those of his mother and sisters’, Kennedy dreamed of finding a way to change the position of women in his society.
Shining Hope for Communities is composed of an extremely diverse and experienced coalition of local community members, leaders in international development practice, university students, and grassroots supporters. Kennedy has combined his lived experience as a community organizer in Kibera with his elite college education to create an organization that is truly one of a kind. All of Shining Hope for Communities’ work is inspired and overseen by local community members in Kibera.

Together our students, staff, and community members are leading the way to a better tomorrow for themselves, their families, their community—and for all of us. We work hard, and think big because we believe that everyone, everywhere deserves a chance to hope.

Primary Functions

• Awareness Raising/Advocacy
• Capacity building/Technical assistance
• Program/Project Implementation

Secondary Functions

• Policy Development/Implementation

Geographic Scope

• Global / regional

Attainment

• Post-secondary
• Primary completion
• Primary enrollment
• Primary to secondary transition
• Secondary completion
• Secondary Enrollment

Other

• Early childhood development
• Transition from school to work

Other skills

• Financial literacy
• Life skills/sexuality education
• Rights/empowerment education
• Social and emotional learning

Quality

• School facilities
• School quality
• School-related gender-based violence

Skills

• Civics education
• Literacy
• Numeracy
• STEM

Website

Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO)

Headquarters location(s)

• Nairobi, Nairobi Area, Kenya

Office location(s)

• Kenya
• United States of America