Support Graceful Aging in Kenya

Dear Donors and Friends,          

It’s amazing to write this report at the start of another year! The AgeWatch Africa team hopes that you have all crossed over to 2024 with renewed spirit and vigour. As the year takes off to a busy start I wish to thank everyone of you for your kind generosity and the continued support and lessons learned through 2023 and the many opportunities, triumphs, and gifts that we received from you.

I write following a difficult 2023 for our healthy ageing and the promotion of life-long fitness and health causes in the rapidly aging Kenyan society. From late 2022 through to 2023 Kenya experienced a spike in its taxation rates with a resultant high cost of living for its residents. This unexpected economic change hugely impacted the overall well-being of Kenyans, but more especially the older people who largely depend on their guardians for daily livelihood. Things did not get any better in the face of the many post COVID-19 economic and policy adjustments by the private sector players.

During the first half of the year we leveraged on some key 2022 results that included the successful refurbishment of our nursing and residential care facility in Kisumu County through your kind support. This newly renovated facility kick-started our group daycare sessions from December 2022 after the government lifted COVID-19 restrictions. From early 2023 we rolled out home-based care services and by close of the year we had made footprints in the following seven counties: Kisumu, Kakamega, Busia, Siaya, Migori, Homa Bay and Nakuru. From this campaign, we are delighted to report the very first service delivery revenue that came in largely from our foreign-based customers (Kenyans in the diaspora) who procured our services for their folks back home. By close of 2023, a cumulative total of over 3,000 individuals had benefited from our various programs in the Western Kenya region.

The final half of the year focused more on advocacy and knowledge dissemination work among community stakeholders. This was needed to break down cultural and social norms that impede our work in the community. Additionally, we focused on relationship building; reaching out to potential new partners for support. We were privileged to interact with some of the globally renowned donors and international development players such as IDRC (Canada), Segal Family Foundation (US) and Good360 (US). We are eager to pursue these engagements with a view to future collaboration. Our relationship building efforts also yielded new partners in:- Kenyan Ministry of Foreign & Diaspora Affairs - to enhance our visibility among Kenyan diaspora associations abroad, Commonwealth Association for the Ageing (CommonAge) and one global research team, the African Population & Health Research Center (APHRC) Towards the end of the year we took part in the Commonwealth Secretary General’s Innovation for Sustainable Development Awards 2023 Nominations under the category: “Improving the well-being of commonwealth people.” Our innovation entitled “Water for Food and Income Security: Addressing Climate Change Impact on Older People” received recognition. The climax of 2023 came in November when AgeWatch Africa was admitted as a global network member of HelpAge International: https://www.helpage.org/global-network/africa/east-africa/kenya/

From the foregoing, we envisage a busier, more productive and impactful year in 2024. Some key programs that are lined up from Q1’2024 include:

• Enhanced value addition through advocacy and information on the rights of care workers in Kenya (especially the vulnerable female carers)
• Enhanced value addition through service delivery by scaling up all our three service channels: home-based care, group daycare and residential (or institutional) care.
• Rolling out the “Water for Food and Income Security: Addressing Climate Change Impact on Older People” project to address older peoples’ nutritional deficiency as well as food and economic insecurity.
• Enhanced fundraising efforts to facilitate the implementation of the above projects.

There is no doubt that we are headed to be excitingly busy in the coming months! Our purpose remains constant - ensuring a healthy ageing for all older people, even as we must change the methods by which we pursue it.

In that spirit, the Board of Directors, Advisory Board, our incredible staff & volunteers, the elderly clients that we are humbled to serve, and I - together join in thanking you for your most generous donations, ongoing cooperation, hard work, and incredible support!

With that I would like to wish you all the very best for 2024. 

With much gratitude,

Richard Waindi
Founder & CEO