UNDUGU SOCIETY KENYA

Training in Product Development, Management and Marketing

Undugu Society Kenya (USK)

Start: 1973

Field of action: Kenya (Kisii, Lodwar, Nairobi, Kajiado, Machakos, Kitui and Mombasa)

Members: 900 families/groups

In Kiswahili, the word “undugu” means “solidarity”. For 35 years, the Undugu Society of Kenya has in fact been working to improve the integration of street children and street people in Nairobi in Kenya. The society was founded by Father Arnold Grol, a Dutch priest who had observed the increasing number of street children in Nairobi. At the time, these children were called “parking boys” because they gave motorists directions to parking lots.

Deeply moved by their plight, he also began to spend his time on the streets. The boys told him the streets were their “home” where they ate, slept and survived.

Undugu runs 8 social programmes in the slums around Nairobi. These programmes include development activities, basic education and reintegration of the children into their home communities. Every year, 180 children visit the Undugu reception centres where they are housed, fed, cared for and taught or trained for a trade. Other street children learn to read and write thanks to the projects run by Undugu in collaboration with the ILO (the International Labour Organization).[1]

Context: 1 in 2 Kenyans lives in absolute poverty

The number of poor people in Kenya has grown from less than four million in the early 1970s to an estimated 15 million today. This means that over half of the 31 million people in Kenya live in absolute poverty.

More than three quarters of the poor live in rural areas. Almost half of the urban poor live in Nairobi slums.

The unequal distribution of wealth has contributed to an accelerated process of social and spatial segregation, of marginalization and of exclusion of the poorest people.

Artisans who worked for Undugu were not directly affected by the profound crisis experienced in the country which resulted in 1,000 deaths and 500,000 displaced people. Nonetheless, the artisans had to endure deprivation due to the lack of staples like food or medication in turn due to the collapse of the transport systems.[2]

Marketing and Handicraft

Today, Undugu helps thousands of disadvantaged Kenyans thanks to the development of small enterprises, the informal technical training programmes, the availability of affordable housing, the creation of employment, and the existence of health care programmes. The group’s craft division has more than 450 families who make stone sculptures and baskets in places like Kisii, Turkana, Machakos and Nairobi. The revenues help break the cycle of poverty and reduce the number or people migrating to the cities.[3]

The profits from crafts are distributed among the producers and allotted to the organization’s social programmes. From the FOB (free on board) purchase price: 60 to 65% goes to the artisan, 15 to 18% covers administrative costs, 10 to 12% pays for packing, 5 to 10% pays for transport costs, and 5% covers taxes.[4]

Support from the Fair Trade Centre

Thanks to the Fair Trade Centre, Undugu now organizes training for the artisans on product development, business management and marketing.

[2] Fred Massinde, Undugu, March 2008. Quoted by Oxfam-Magasins du monde/Oxfam-Wereldwinkel

[3] Ten Thousand Villages, American fair trade organization

[4] www.ofretic.fr