Case StudiesRTE 1 ‘LIVING WORD’ FOR BRIGHTER COMMUNITIES WORLDWIDE (SCRIPT 3)
The development work of Brighter Communities worldwide is as tangible as it is vital.
In just 16 years it has transformed the communities it works within Kericho County in Kenya through its Health, Education, Economic Empowerment and Water Programmes. It has expanded and developed them and now works across Kericho County which has a population of 944,842 people.
Living a motto of ‘one dream, one team’, it has done more in 16 years than many might do in 16 lifetimes.
In collaboration with the Ministry of Health, it has rolled out 36 new Community Units serving 36,000 households or more than 180,000 people. Community Units act as gateways to key community health initiatives, which include local outreach clinics, Female Genital Mutilation abandonment programme, maternal health, menstrual hygiene management, healthy schools and smokeless stoves.
Water and Sanitation projects have the potential to serve 30,000 people. Maternal and child health have improved. There has been an increase of 40% in the number of mothers delivering in health facilities and a 62% reduction in the perinatal mortality rate in Londiani Sub County Hospital.
More than 12,000 girls have graduated from an Alternative Rite of Passage which provides a culturally appropriate alternative to FGM. There has been an 8% increase in attendance at schools for students in the Healthy Schools and ‘Girls for Girls’ programmes There has been a marked increase in people accessing HIV Voluntary Counselling testing services. Its smokeless stove programme has led to a 70% reduction in respiratory illness in communities where they were installed. There has been much more too.
Brighter Communities Worldwide is lifting people up – it is constantly evolving and moving forward…serving the people …together, one dream, one team indeed.
