The Integrated Holistic Community Development: Model Case Studies in Kenya and Ethiopia

Published 02/26/2024 in Scholar Travel Stipend

Written by Alma Zepeda | 02/26/2024

On December 10th I boarded a plane with a group of 19 other UCLA Anderson School of Management classmates working on an international social impact consulting project. We were spending our winter break in Nairobi, Kenya and Addis Ababa, Ethiopia documenting the work of two highly effective non-profits community-based organizations, Shining Hope for Communities (SHOFCO) and Project Mercy.

My team was looking to define  the newly coined Integrated Holistic Community Development model utilized by these two organizations. Our engagement lasted two quarters, from September to March. To fully understand the context in which these two organizations were working we did a 10-day guided tour of the complexes and operations in Kenya and Ethiopia. In my time in East Africa, I reflected on what made these two-organizations unique, how their approach creates deep impact, and finally how the work on East Africa has parallels to work being done in the U.S. and around the globe.

Both SHOFCO and Project Mercy’s mindsets have deep parallels with the Milken Institute and Milken Family Foundation mission statements. Both organizations work across multiple programming verticals to “accelerate measurable progress” in their respective communities with a focus on “financial, physical, mental, and environmental health”. Their verticals include education, health, nutrition, infrastructure, and community empowerment. Their method of doing their work, however, differs from aid-based organizations. They look to have deep integration within the community and have committed to long term development, or in the words of the Milken Family Foundations mission statement “helping people help themselves”. In fact, over 70% of both organizations are staffed by local individuals and their mission put long term community development at the core of their mission.

My knowledge of Shining Hope for Community (SHOFCO) started with a book written about the start of the organization through the eyes of founder Kennedy Odede and his wife Jessica. I spent hours listening to the audiobook, learning about the physical realities of living in the slum of Kibera in the 1990’s to the founding of the organization in 2004 to its expansion into the multiple verticals of education and healthcare in 2009. Stepping off of our comfortable charter bus, with American snack food carefully placed by our tour and security company, I was immediately struck by the similarities to other slums I’ve seen across the Americas in Brazil and El Salvador. The stacked housing, the tight markets, the smells, the bustle, and the heavy feeling of 1,000 eyes fixated on knowing who you are and what you are doing there. As I got closer to the offices of SHOFCO the energy in the community changed from suspicion to excitement; they’d been waiting for us, eager to show off their work, proud of their facility and their community. We met a case worker from the gender violence vertical, a woman in the SHOFCO skills training class, and community organizers in the SHOFCO Urban Network. I was continually inundated with their positivity and their deep belief that SHOFCO was creating a lasting and positive change. That positivity was infectious and more than one of us was looking for a way to donate or connect SHOFCO to more resources.

Project Mercy was founded by Marta Gabre-Tsadick and Deme Tekle-Woldin 1977. Originally meant to deliver emergency aid relief, educational assistance, and refugee relocation, Project Mercy developed into a long-term development organization in rural Yetebon, Ethiopia. I had a rocky start in Ethiopia with a classic case of a severe travelers upset stomach and a 3-hour bus ride looming ahead me. Despite the discomfort I’m glad I experienced the bus ride in this uncomfortable way. For two hours we drove past a handful of other vehicles, a random hut or two, but for the most part we passed mile after mile of vast empty fields. In my fragile state I understood that being this far out of the city was not only prohibitive for people to access job opportunities, education, and the mobility that cities offer, but also the safety of health centers and hospitals. We arrived in Yetebon a little after 1pm and for the next three days got to see the different working verticals and the large infrastructural investment Project Mercy has done in the region. We walked experimental gardens used to determine which crops had the best yield in the area, four schools ranging from an elementary school to a nursing college, and a home for orphaned youth. The imprint Project Mercy has had on the community was evident in the economic development and the physical landscape of the region.

Seeing the work of these organizations provoked mixed feelings for my classmates and me. Overwhelmingly I observed a mix of awe and respect at the scale of the impact we were witnessing. These organizations had infrastructure, tightly run organizations, and buy-in from what are largely disenfranchised communities. So, what was the secret sauce of these community-based organizations?

Well, the organizations were shaped in the image of the communities they served. They were built by, or partnered with, community members with deep roots in the community that understood how to “walk the walk” in each respective location. The services of each organization were born from deep and interconnecting community needs. Neither organization could have developed and existed in the others community. In Kibera the prevailing gender disparities shaped the lens through which SHOFCO battled food and water insecurities as well as educational opportunities. In Yetebon, the sheer distance from the city required an agriculture and infrastructure (education and healthcare) focus. Beyond the deep community involvement, was the acknowledgement that no one program or group of services could solve for “community development”. Only concurrent programming across multiple verticals could create the kind of virtuous cycle of progress needed to see exponential development in these areas. So, both organizations have more than four verticals that interconnect and create positive synergies in the organizations work, simply said 1+1=3.

Ten days after arriving in East Africa I boarded a plane back to Los Angeles. I’ve reflected on my time in Nairobi and Addis Ababa and a few themes have come to mind. The work of development requires outside aide, BUT to truly shift a community’s trajectory, the people and the history of the area must be considered and the people themselves must be involved in their own progress. We see this even locally in the famous Los Angeles Homeboy Industries, where previously incarcerated individuals are given multiple programing vertical to shift their lives away from violence. Many graduates of the program work within the organization and change it for the better. Second, many other places in the world share attributes with the conditions in East Africa and I felt a new sense of weight knowing that if we could properly define and document the “how” of the work being done in East Africa, it could benefit development across other communities globally. Finally, on a more personal level l was grateful for the privilege and trust afforded me by these two organizations and their leadership. As students we got a unique opportunity to learn about the intricacies of the work and apply our knowledge to a real world and pressing situation.