11/11/2025
TRIBUTE TO A SPECIAL FOUNDATION
What a wonderful few hours it was to attend, witness and learn lessons from Eliud Owalo Foundation on Saturday 8th November at the Ole Sereni hotel.
This hero, and fine gentleman, Eliud Owalo is the Patron of the well-established Eliud Owalo Foundation. The man has made lack of community empowerment war, a definite "must win" item in his social development life.
Let us all admit it. Owalo is smart, skillful can promptly devise empowerment strategy, priority employment strategy all with the skill of a fine strategist.
Look at how launching of Eliud Owalo Foundation was organized. It had in its vein the blood of socio-cultural basis by touching on provision of fresh tapwater, schools and socio-economic basis when it ropes in SACCO.
The Eliud Owalo Foundation is aware that the current government unquestionably embraced full-blown capitalism and corporate guidance of Kenya economy, including the blue and environmental economy, Eliud Owalo Foundation has strategically roped big guns in the corporate world in partnership.
A critical analysis of the video recordings of the entire projects will show that unlike other local registered Foundations formed by our rich politicians with glaring evidence that the project's decision-making process has been heavily polluted by political and business corruption right from the beginning, Eliud Owalo Foundation projects are devoid of politics and undue political and corporate pressures.
Another major focal point of Eliud Owalo Foundation's action is the new strategies for management of climate change related challenges.
Definitely Eliud Owalo Foundation exists for sake of communities and it's launching will remain our highlight for years to come.
When I received the invitation from Hon. Owalo himself o attend the launching of Eliud Owalo Foundation, I cancelled all my prior engagements. I had read extensively about the Eliud Owalo Foundation in the Daily Nation newspaper. I arrived earlier enough to be able to observe the intricate and complex jobs that went into organizing the event.
When the former cabinet secretary for information, communication, and the digital economy and currently the deputy chief of staff for Delivery and Government Efficiency in the Government of the Republic of Kenya, old bird from strategic management sector, was invited to make his opening speech, he marched to the podium majestically with confidence of army corps of engineer entangled in minefield battle and self-discipline a prince.He is sensible and articulate as well as gifted.
There was a pause and then the entire audience began to listen along as the Patron of Eliud Owalo Foundation gave his opening remarks. When he through with speech, I heard one former minister say "what whirlwinds". The speech earned him prolonged clapping culminating in standing ovation.
I looked up the conference hall and never really got on with it. The hall was lavishly and extravagantly prepared, quite intimidating, more like the hall prepared for the Nobel Prize committee, but I was really interested in Owalo's speech, which turned out to be extremely captivating, insightful, informative, and educative as it was fostering a common consciousness and a sense of partnership among Eliud Owalo Foundation, corporate and civil society organizations.
There was no lone ranger ranger element, accents weren't important because so many of his guests have come from humble origins.
It was more cosmopolitan, multicultural audience and there were hidden talents, a whole underestimated suburban culture was in attendance.
At my table there were things that worried me, people don't meet much. I felt there was a great deal of loneliness behind those polished front-door knockers and launching of Eliud Owalo Foundation offered them a great opportunity to meet and engage in gleefully conversation. There were many of the nation's famous in the launching of Eliud Owalo Foundation, but there must have been few mini stars, I have spent a long time trying to analyze importance of the sprawling Foundations formed by politicians and I hadn't got there yet until I saw Eliud Owalo Foundation in action last Saturday. I have accepted that Eliud Owalo Foundation typically and literally opened my eyes.
The Patron, Eliud Owalo told his approximately over 400 guests the problems Eliud Owalo Foundation will address namely;
1. Limited access to quality and affordable education and health6 care
2. High youth unemployment and economic exclusion.
3. Untapped sports and creative talent.
4. Inconsistent access to clean water and sanitation
5. Escalating environmental degradation
6. Persistent socio-economic inequality.
7. Urgent need for integrated ICT-driven empowerment across all sectors.
I have not always had great trust in many sprawling Foundations formed in Kenya, what is said and what is done can be two very different stories. Why this apathy? Because most of Foundation formed are inward looking concerned with the founder himself and his own entrenched self-interests.
Regardless of how the Foundation idea is generally perceived by many Kenyans, Eliud Owalo Foundation is unique in every meaning of the word. It is the largest empowerment machinery of its kind in East and Central Africa with far more focus on empowering community. It's management staff and board of trustee uphold the principle of democratic participation and is reasonably supportive.
One could not miss to recognize the fact that Eliud Owalo Foundation has the breadth of vision necessary for transforming communities. It's priority strategy in achieving its purpose which is empowering communities is anchored upon initiating projects that help the families to reap benefits at the household levels, particularly the women SACCO, it more like a dual capacity for women empowerment.
Wait a minute. Knowing something is not the same as watching it happening. Watching the video recordings of Eliud Owalo Foundation's most complete intervention projects help to remove a tattered veil for Foundation's true function of community empowerment.
After watching the video you get convinced that something is happening in the communities empowerment programs, a revolution against the traditional Foundation system.
From Busia county to Mombasa county and from Mandera country to Kajiado, communities have been straining against the confine of mushrooming Foundations, demanding a greater share empowerment and a fair share of their own local resources.
It has been almost a given among experts for some time that part of the communities empowerment challenge to government and county governments is to initiate national empowerment projects alone without partnerships. Kenya politicians and government have understood as much at least in theory. The work of revamping function of Foundation and Foundation sector as a whole and coping up with the consequences of its weakness, decay and retrenchment and eventually cleaning up and restoring public confidence in Foundation sector.
Last week's message and lessons learned from the launching of Eliud Owalo Foundation was that the trends could not continue long and conclusively enough as Eliud Owalo Foundation has put new and primary emphasis on management of Foundations and certainly the transformation of Foundation sector.
Eliud Owalo Foundation will definitely stop Foundations trying to get into every Foundation's line of business but ending acting exclusively in what is entrenched self-interest.
Foundations structured in line with Eliud Owalo Foundation where the community interest is much more closer will be successful because Eliud Owalo Foundation empowering community project is interactive, practical-participation- oriented designed to reach thousands of primary and secondary stakeholders at lowest community-level.
For example, in the videos played by Eliud Owalo Foundation, you watch the dilapidated schools being pulled down and a complete modern school infrastructure constructed instead, complete with computer hubs. We never saw it coming. But even if we saw it coming, that is different from seeing it happening before our eyes. The video recordings were amazing
Obviously, the lesson learned is that Eliud Owalo Foundation indeed helps to give communities a first hand impression of what really a responsible Foundation in action and whose impact on the communities is tangible and easy to predict and innovatively monitored and evaluated.
In Eliud Owalo Foundation board, I was pleased to notice comparatively more of frequently cited mood of enthusiasm in empowering communities. There is a broad pro-community empowering consensus that reaches far across the country. The projects are fairly sited based on a need- by-need basis. One moment you are watching highly viable and completed projects in Siaya or Migori county and next your are watching the complete project of women SACCO in Kiambu or Muranga or Kericho or Nairobi county.
Moreover, it was my privilege to see those whose competence, I have personally experienced and can wholeheartedly proclaim as honest technocrats who have produced concrete results in their past engagements now serving as members of the board of trustee of Eliud Owalo Foundation.
Besides the Patron of Eliud Owalo Foundation himself, I worked with UNCHS-Habitat as it was known then under the Best Practice Award program in which Improving Human Environment was one of the thematic areas. Mr. Chris Mensah was with UN-HABITAT. I came to learn that Chris is a man who mixes humanity with environment. I had presented award winning Mawani Development Group Project based in Voi Town in UN-HABITAT conference in Chengdu, China.
Another technocrat in the board of trustee is Mrs Mary Okelo. She was introduced to me by Mama Ida Odinga in the late 1990s. Later, at the initial stage of formating of KWFT, I did grassroots mobilization of potential members for KWFT in Taita-Taveta district. I worked under the guidance of Major (RTD) Marsden Madoka, the then minister for internal security and later minister for foreign and international affairs.
Mr.Rateng' Oginga Ogega was my political counterpart in the NDP in the 1990s and both of us founded, edited, published and distributed 'Tinga Tinga' Newsletters. Our office was situated opposite the current Equity headquarters. Ogego is a prolific and fine writer and fierce defender of human rights.
Mr. Nahashon Oluoch 'Lule' besides being my first cousin, is a leading educationist and member of board of my neighbour, Taita-Taveta university.
He is instrumental in nurturing young talent, formulating stimulating academic and sport policies at the University.
Certainly the board of trustee consists of technocrats with formidable intellectual agility who just never talk about empowering communities and youths. But they practically do it and have been seen doing it before.
I was quite elevated and highly pleased to find my childhood friend and estate mate, Mr John 'Bobby' Ogola, the prolific and agile all whether defender whose free kicks would find the back of the net long before Olise of Nigeria appeared on the scene. Bobby and I grew up together in the upper- market ADC estate in Kisumu (Gilani Estate). We spoke alot on the sideline of meeting.
Bobby and I were swept by the wind nostalgia. I enquired about one of his relatives Mr.Otieno Buri, the famous goal keeper for Harambee star who used to live with the Ogolas at the estate. "Otieno Buri had passed on". Bobby emphasized the importance of Eliud Owalo Foundation to the legends and encouraged to support the Eliud Owalo Foundation in whatever means possible.
Of course, another critical lesson learned from the presentation of Eliud Owalo Foundation video recordings on implemented projects is on empowering communities through agriculture.
Apparently, Eliud Owalo Foundation had mapped out the areas carefully and chose on areas once considered to be suffering from declining agricultural productivity. The Foundation project identification team discovered that some county government agencies ignored the role of women in agricultural activities and found evidence of sustained, significant levels of production, domestic consumption and marketing.
The Foundation then decided to do the unthinkable, encouraging involvement of women living adjacent to areas once dismissed as agriculturally unproductive.
The Eliud Owalo Foundation agriculture projects provide a striking example of how local residents and committed technical experts can have impact on improving lives, and together they can stand up to causes of abject poverty and powerful NGOs interests proposing dependency policy.
Going by live and recorded comments and appreciations made in the video by communities who have empowered directly, for the vast majority of primary stakeholders, Eliud Owalo Foundation has created many sources of livelihoods.
Lastly, for any communities pushed by poverty and inequality to the extent that that feel they are cows put in a corral and that they can't do anything but walk around in circles getting thinner everyday without any grass to eat, Eliud Owalo Foundation has long term solutions.
