The commitment of Mukuru Shujaa to children and youth in Mukuru kwa Njenga has never wavered. Every day, our team shows up to create safe spaces where children can play, learn, and lead. However, as the global funding landscape continues to shift, dedication alone is no longer enough. Financial sustainability has become an urgent priority.

Our recent participation in the KCDF Local Fundraising Cohort 19 (#LFR19) provided a critical moment of reflection and growth. Through this process, we took an honest and data-driven look at our financial health in relation to our mission to scale impact. What we discovered was sobering but necessary: we have been operating in survival mode.

This reality matters deeply. In underserved communities like Mukuru kwa Njenga, the prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) is significantly higher than the national average of 1 in 5 adolescents. These experiences—often linked to poverty, instability, and limited access to opportunity—directly undermine a child’s ability to learn, thrive, and reach their full potential. When organizations serving such communities are forced to focus on short-term survival, the children pay the highest price.

At a time when international donor funding is shrinking, the KCDF training became a lifeline. It reinforced a powerful truth: sustainable change can and must be locally driven. Through the cohort, we were reintroduced to the power of local resource mobilization—the belief that communities, partners, and local institutions can collectively sustain the wellbeing and education of their own children.

KCDF equipped us with a strong strategic fundraising framework, empowering Mukuru Shujaa to transition deliberately from dependency to resilience. We are now actively diversifying our funding architecture, strengthening governance, and investing in systems that will allow us to grow sustainably while remaining accountable to the community we serve.

This journey would not have been possible without the dedication of our two champions, Vanessa Njoki and Collins Otieno, who were trained through the Change the Game Academy (#CtGA). We are also deeply grateful to the exceptional facilitators whose guidance on local fundraising was both practical and transformative.

As we move forward, we invite our partners, supporters, and friends to walk with us in this new chapter. By investing in local capacity today, you are helping to secure a stable, hopeful, and prosperous future for every child Mukuru Shujaa serves.

Our mission remains the same.
Our strategy is stronger.
And our resolve to serve children—now and for generations to come—has never been clearer.