Community Support Group (CSG) is a national community-based organization working in three areas of Kenya:

Kibera Kibera (Kinubi: ''Forest'' or ''Jungle'') is a division of Nairobi Area, Kenya, and neighbourhood of the city of Nairobi, from the city centre. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi, and the largest urban slum in Africa.http://www.dominionpa ...

(a slum in Nairobi), Kisumu and Ugenya. CSG’s primary goal is to promote community development through pooling resources of community members.

Origins

CSG was founded by a group of youths fresh from college in October 2001. Daniel Ogola was elected chairperson. The other office bearers as per the CSG constitution were Justus Wambua (Projects Coordinator), Collins Seroney (Treasurer) and Christopher Olongo (Organizing secretary). Others included Rebecca Ndunda and Mwalimu Elizabeth Achieng. In December of the same year it was legally registered through the Office of the Vice President and 'Ministry of Home Affairs, Heritage and Sports'.

Organizing strategy

Dissimilar to the majority of NGOs working in Kenya, residence within the affected community is a prerequisite to involvement in either the board of directors or the membership of CSG. Membership is defined by participation, and, in part, by voluntary dues contributions. CSG collects membership dues to offset reliance on external funds (i.e., foreign foundations and charities).

Accomplishments

CSG has worked on a variety of different projects to meet its stated goals. Some of these include: HIV/AIDS awareness clinics and outreach; Mosquito net distribution; Neighborhood cleanups; Sustainable mushroom cultivation; Informal sector worker organizing; Job and computer training; Development of the CSG Library; and Operation Tusaidiane, an ongoing indigenous community theater project. CSG was the 2002 winner for "Best Practice: Innovative Interventions on Youth Development" awarded by the Kenyan Ministry of Gender, Sports, Culture and Social Services, Department of Social Services, Youth Division.

Partnerships

Apart from a range of international relationships with individuals in advisory positions, CSG has worked most closely with the Matibabu Foundation of the United States. Matibabu provides medical care, training and equipment to residents of Ugenya, an area near

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

. In 2006, CSG formed Helping Hands Tours & Safaris, an ecotourism agency that offers more traditional Kenya tours as well as community-based tours of the Kibera slums.

Kibera slums

{{Main, Kibera The Kibera

slum A slum is a highly populated urban residential area consisting of densely packed housing units of weak build quality and often associated with poverty. The infrastructure in slums is often deteriorated or incomplete, and they are primarily inh ...

s, an area 5 kilometers southwest of City Centre Nairobi, is the most populated informal settlement in

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

, housing more than one quarter of Nairobi’s population. The name ‘Kibera’ is a

Nubian Nubian may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Nubia, a region along the Nile river in Southern Egypt and northern Sudan. *Nubian people *Nubian languages *Anglo-Nubian goat, a breed of goat * Nubian ibex * , several ships of the Britis ...

word for ‘forest.’ The original settlers were

Sudanese Sudanese or Sudanic may refer to: *pertaining to the country of Sudan **the people of Sudan, see Demographics of Sudan *pertaining to Sudan (region) **Sudanic languages **Sudanic race, subtype of the Africoid racial category See also *Sudanese Civ ...

soldiers who settled there after fighting for the British in World War I. Kibera is roughly 2 kilometers squared with an estimated population of 1 million people. There are no residential buildings over a single storey. The average home size in Kibera is 3 meters by 3 meters, with an average of five persons per dwelling. Urban services such as water or sanitation are minimal. There is an average of one pit latrine for every 50 to 500 people.

External links

Community Support Group HomepageMatibabu FoundationMatibabu Belgium ASBLHelping Hands Tours & Safaris
Charities based in Kenya