Field accounts
An account from Solicitude for Orphan Children Support Group (SFOCSG)
This account was drafted with the Three Principles Initiative, then reviewed, corrected and approved by Beatrice Ongaji, Founder & Executive Director, Solicitude for Orphan Children Support Group (SFOCSG), Nairobi. It appears here in the text she approved, with SFOCSG's permission and attribution. We include it because practitioners describe water, safety and education as interacting, which is the starting point of our brief.
It is an organisation's account of its community, not an independent evaluation. The programme figures are SFOCSG's own and have not been independently verified. SFOCSG has not endorsed the state typology or the claims in our brief, and nothing here is evidence for tipping points or state-dependent prescriptions.
Kayole-Soweto is a densely populated informal settlement in Nairobi where many families live with significant economic and social challenges. The community is home to children, young people, women, caregivers and families who are working hard to build stable lives despite limited access to basic services and economic opportunities.
Daily life can involve challenges such as unreliable access to clean and affordable water, food insecurity, limited household income, barriers to quality education, unemployment and underemployment, and concerns about the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.
For many families, these challenges are interconnected. When a household struggles to meet basic needs, children can be affected through irregular school attendance, inadequate nutrition, limited learning resources and increased exposure to protection risks.
Solicitude's work in the community grew from recognising that vulnerable children cannot be supported effectively by addressing education alone. Our experience showed us that children's wellbeing is closely connected to the circumstances of their families and the wider community. We therefore developed a community-led approach that combines education and learning support with child wellbeing, mentorship, psychosocial support, nutrition, women's and girls' empowerment, digital literacy, vocational opportunities and community awareness.
Our goal is not simply to provide short-term assistance, but to strengthen families and communities so that children and young people have a safer environment in which they can learn, grow and build their futures.
Access to safe, reliable and affordable water remains one of the important challenges affecting families in Kayole-Soweto. Many households have to purchase water, and availability and affordability can be difficult, particularly for low-income families.
Water insecurity affects more than household consumption. It can influence hygiene, health, household expenditure and the amount of time families — particularly women and girls — spend obtaining water.
From our experience, improving reliable access to clean water would have a significant impact on household wellbeing and would strengthen the effectiveness of other community interventions.
As I have expressed previously, water is fundamental to life, health and dignity. Improving water access would therefore have benefits extending far beyond the water itself.
Children and young people in informal settlements can face a range of protection and safety risks, particularly where families are experiencing economic hardship and children may be unsupervised.
Solicitude therefore approaches safety not only as a security issue, but also as a community responsibility. We work through awareness, caregiver engagement, mentorship, empowerment and community participation to strengthen protective environments around children and young people.
We believe that empowering young people to understand their responsibilities, develop positive leadership skills and participate constructively in their communities contributes to a safer and more accountable society.
Education is one of Solicitude's core areas of work. Our programmes have grown significantly over the years, from supporting approximately 100 children in 2018 to reaching more than 1,000 children and young people through our broader programmes and activities by 2025.
Our education and child wellbeing work includes school learning support, mentorship, psychosocial support, school feeding, provision of learning materials, girls' empowerment, STEM and digital literacy initiatives, and vocational and skills development opportunities.
The school feeding component is particularly important because hunger can become a direct barrier to children's ability to attend school, concentrate and remain engaged in learning.
We have also seen the importance of creating opportunities for girls and young women to participate in STEM, technology and skills development. These opportunities help challenge traditional assumptions about what girls can achieve and give young people greater confidence to pursue education and careers.
Solicitude's experience has taught us that community challenges cannot be addressed effectively in isolation.
Water, food security, education, health, protection and economic opportunity are interconnected. A child who is hungry, lacks reliable access to water or lives in an unstable household may struggle to attend school and benefit fully from educational opportunities.
Conversely, when families have greater stability and children have access to nutrition, safe environments, education, mentorship and opportunities to develop skills, the possibility of long-term change increases.
This is why we believe sustainable impact comes from integrated, community-led approaches that strengthen families, empower local leadership and build resilience across different areas of life.
If I had to identify one change that could have a transformative effect across many areas of community life, I would identify reliable access to clean and affordable water.
Water is foundational. Improved water access could contribute to better hygiene and health, reduce the financial pressure associated with purchasing water, reduce the time families spend searching for water, and particularly benefit women and girls who often carry significant responsibility for household water needs.
It could also indirectly support children's education and overall wellbeing by reducing one of the persistent challenges facing households.
For Solicitude, however, the larger lesson is that community transformation requires more than one intervention. Water would make a major difference, but sustainable change comes when basic needs, education, protection, empowerment and economic resilience are addressed together and communities themselves are part of leading that change.