ICYE Kenya’s campaign focuses on enhancing the visibility and growth of international long-term volunteering and creating recognition of its vast experience in the field. In doing so, it would like to increase the number of young Kenyans volunteering abroad and the number of young people who come to Kenya to volunteer in local NGOs, as well as to increase the number of families hosting volunteers. To reach out to potential volunteers and host families, ICYE Kenya will step up its promotion on social media platforms in addition to arranging local information sessions in schools, colleges and in public spaces.

As part of the strategy to enhance its visibility, ICYE Kenya will work on building new and stronger relationships with relevant government departments and embassies as well as raising awareness among potential sponsors and fundraising partners. It will work on developing and maintaining good communication through formal one-on-one meetings, in which potential partners can learn more about ICYE Kenya.

To boost the local community around ICYE Kenya, it will aim to create and develop a strong network of local volunteers. This will be done by organising more public and private events with the support and participation of local volunteers.

TIME TABLE:

January/February 2017:

• Info sessions in different schools and colleges by ICYE Kenya staff, co-workers, former volunteers, international volunteers in Kenya
• Meetings of immigration and embassy staff with director and Board Members of ICYE Kenya

April/May 2017:

• Info sessions at malls or public events by staff, board members, former volunteers and co-workers of ICYE Kenya

June 2017 :

• Sports tournaments, global action by staff, co-workers, board members and other organisations in ICYE Kenya’s network

EVENTS/ACTIVTIES:

Good Deeds Day 

Good Deeds Day is an annual, international celebration of Doing Good. All over the world, hundreds of thousands choose to volunteer and help others, putting into practice the simple idea that every single person can do something good, large or small, to improve the lives of others and positively change the world.

Good Deeds Day was initiated in 2007 by businesswoman and philanthropist, Shari Arison, and launched and organized by Ruach Tova (NGO), a part of The Ted Arison Family Foundation, the philanthropic arm of the Arison Group. Since its launch in 2007, this annual tradition of good has grown from 7,000 participants in 2007 in Israel to almost 1 million in 2015, going global in 2011 with 10 international cities.

This year, 2017, ICYE Kenya had the opportunity to participate in the good deeds day celebration which was held for the first time in Kenya, Nairobi at the Kenyatta International Conference Centre (KICC) on the 2^nd of April. The event started with a peace march within the Central Business District led by county officials, Members of the Scouts Association and Good Deeds Day Officials. The event attracted 100 exhibitors from the government, universities, civil societies and several NGOs. It was a great opportunity for ICYE Kenya to advertise its volunteering exchange programme and to search for new host projects. ICYE Kenya networked with members of various NGOs, which will hopefully lead to new partnerships in the near future.

The ICYE Kenya stand attracted close to 50 people who showed interest in being part of the programme either as volunteers or as partner host projects.  Since the event, an increased number of young people have contacted ICYE Kenya, evincing interest in knowing more on how they can volunteer both locally and abroad. The day was a success and ICYE Kenya is looking forward to having a significant increase in the number of viable candidates for the year 2018.

Prize Giving and Sports Day, St. Bridget’s Educational Centre

Part of ICYE Kenya’s strategy to improve visibility was to get involved in public  activities. As a youth organisation, ICYE Kenya targeted schools so as to capture the interest of the parents and young people. It planned its end of year volunteer camp in a community school in Mwingi, on the last day of which the school organised its prize giving and sports day. The end of year camp sessions took place over for two days and the other three days were well spent doing community work – ICYE Kenya volunteers painted the school and planted flowers. The community was very excited about having ICYE Kenya volunteers, both local and international, living with them for a few days. On the last day, 30th June 2017, the volunteers participated in the sports activities with the students of the nearby Yenzuva Secondary School. An ICYE banner had been put up and brochures handed to all those in attendance. With over 200 people at the event, a great deal of interest in volunteering and wider visibility for ICYE was created in Mwingi. The director of ICYE Kenya, Kerubo Nyaribo, had the privilege to give a speech where she talked about ICYE, the benefits of volunteering, encouraged the students to take education seriously and consider volunteering once they were done with high school.

ICYE and friends also donated books to the school which were very well appreciated. ICYE was well represented in the prize giving –  some of its donations were given as prizes and the director and some of the volunteers were called to hand out the prizes. ICYE Kenya and its volunteers were there for an entire week, making ICYE very VISIBLE.

Prize giving day at St. Bridget’s Educational Centre

Giving prizes: Kerubo Nyaribo, director of ICYE Kenya, and Steve Thairu, a co-worker

Volunteers participating in a sack race with local students.

Volunteers painting St. Bridget’s Educational Centre