Raising Futures Kenya is an award-winning small UK charity, working closely alongside a wonderful partner NGO in Kenya to deliver a hugely successful vocational training and business skills programme called Seed of Hope.
Since 2002 Seed of Hope has supported over 4,000 disadvantaged young people aged 14-25 in Kenya with the opportunity to learn a skilled trade, computer skills and business skills. (We can now support over 1,000 young people a year). Many of these young people are unable to finish their formal education as they are experiencing poverty, so our courses are completely free, to ensure no-one is excluded from the opportunity to learn.
Our free training courses also address any of the barriers which may stop a young person from being able to learn. We offer the Seed of Hope students in Kenya;
- free lunches everyday, you can’t learn when you’re hungry.
- menstrual hygiene packs to ensure girls don’t miss lessons because they can’t afford sanitary pads.
- childcare vouchers to ensure young mothers can learn.
- Life skills lessons addressing sexual and reproductive health, gender based violence, knowing and asserting your rights, advocating for gender equality etc.
- and perhaps most importantly, counselling and mental health support. Many young students are coping with the most unimaginable trauma and mental health conditions.
We’re here to support young people with whatever they need in order for them to achieve their best in their training course and to go on to secure a job, or start a small business.
Every young person deserves the opportunity to build a self-reliant, bright, future.
Our Values
We are inclusive – We listen to people and work together with them to develop solutions that really work and last. We do not discriminate on any basis.
We are compassionate – We believe in the potential of all children and young people and recognise their challenges. We feel compelled to provide the support and opportunity that will help them change their lives.
We are collaborative – We work together to make change happen, we’re happy to share with and learn from individuals and organisations to create the biggest impact.
Our History
Raising Futures Kenya was known as Vision Africa Give a Child a Future until December 2018. Vision Africa was founded by Reverend and Mrs Packard in 2001. In the 1990s the couple moved to Kenya from the North of England to work as Chief Administrators at an independent children’s home in Nairobi.
They learned a lot during their time at the children’s home and when they left their roles there, they founded a charity that would support vulnerable children and young people in the country they now called home – Vision Africa was born. Reverend and Mrs Packard were inspired to start Vision Africa by their Christian faith. As a charity we have always worked with those of all faiths and none and we carry the Packard’s values of love, compassion and inclusivity in everything we do.
The charity has worked with children and families in Kenya since 2002, taking practical action in the areas of education and community development.
Today we are led by a passionate, diverse team who all share the charity’s core values of inclusivity, compassion, and empowerment and we share a desire to see a world in which families, children, and young people in Kenya live with dignity, opportunity and hope.
In 2018 we relaunched Vision Africa as Raising Futures Kenya to give a clear emphasis on our intentions and work for the future. Our roots have shaped our direction giving us a way to confidently express our ethos and values in the future.
You can read more about our change of name in this blog post.
Annual Report and Accounts
Here are our latest Annual Report and Accounts. You can find the full history on the Charity Commission website.