The Family Strengthening Programme (FSP) in Nairobi was started in 2003 and is run from the SOS Social and Medical Centre located opposite the SOS Children’s Village.

The role of FSP is to provide sickness prevention measures to its beneficiaries, strengthen their capacities and form partnerships to support the programme objectives. Families are able to stay together in their social units by providing programme interventions that facilitate development, support building blocks to anchor health, educate the populace, create employment and spur entrepreneurial activities.

ACTIVITIES

Nutrition programme
Finding a long term solution to national food security remains a challenge as perceived global warming effects, combined with the failure of long rains, take their toll on the agriculture sector in Kenya. The diversification of income is an option as food prices soar and redundancy levels increase. The FSP has future proposals to introduce poultry rearing and pig farming. Beneficiaries will be reintroduced to growing traditional food crops (amaranth, saga, managu, cow peas leaves etc.) for a nutritional value pack that boosts immuno-deficiency. New partnerships will be sought after advisory tips and skills are received from Kenya Seed Company and others.

An infant formula milk programme and a supplementary feeding programme are both in operation for referrals from the medical centre. Around 300 families receive food rations of beans, maize meal soya chunks, millet flour, sugar and lard.

Other initiatives include nutrition demonstrations for street children and community beneficiaries and a kitchen garden programme.

International Fruit Day
On the 1 July the FSP marked International Fruit Day and were able to feed 189 out-patients and beneficiaries on tropical fruits from the region funded by a donor. This event was to create awareness of the importance of a fruit diet.

Psychosocial support programme
The programme caters for HIV /AIDS infected children and their care givers. Its objective is to prevent further transmission, facilitate disclosure and fight stigma.

Adolescent therapy group
An active adolescent therapy group was formally launched in April 2009. Participants discuss different topics that affect them including relationships, peer pressure and drug abuse.

Kids Club
These meetings take place regularly and a topic is discussed with all who attend, such as sexually transmitted infection, whereby the children are taught about the different types of STI, transmission and prevention.

A psychosocial room for children was also added in 2009 with the objective of reaching out to children who come to facility to explore  their emotional needs through counselling and play therapy sessions.    

Education
195 primary public school children attend our holiday tuition classes held in different parts of the community.

Capacity building
This intervention is designed to expand the economic opportunities of beneficiaries and accelerate their growth and is therefore, a long term plan to self reliance.
Objectives

• to empower the beneficiaries through skills training to enable them to be in a position to support their children through provision of physiological needs and secondly,
• to provide the beneficiaries with sufficient skills for improving their businesses (for those who already have businesses) and skills for starting up own businesses.

Currently 13 FSP beneficiaries are undergoing training at the SOS Vocational Training Centre attending Saturday classes in electrical installation, cookery, pastry/bakery, fashion design and automotive wiring.

MEDICAL CENTRE

The medical centre gives quality medical care to patients, both preventive and curative, and health education services.. It is open from Monday and Friday.

Achievements

• Treatment of opportunistic infections and provision of anti-retrovirals (ARVs) which has significantly improved the health status of our clients
• A marked improvement has been noted in many of our clients who at the beginning were too weak to provide for their families. Now they have gone back to daily activities of earning and providing for their families
• The number of patients succumbing to HIV/AIDS has reduced and more are living positively with the condition.
• Networking with other partners has been maintained
• Medical staff has been providing one-on-one education to our beneficiaries focusing on their individual needs
• Conducted a medical camp at Korogocho (an informal settlement) and managed to attend to 287 clients
  

Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT)
Regular HIV testing is carried out in the VCT. There is usually a higher prevalence of HIV among women, due to increased incidences of violence, sexual offences against them and poverty. People also come to seek information and counselling only, due to VCT sensitisation carried out during mobile outreach programmes.

Partnerships with German medical personnel
The Cargo Care Flying Doctors conducted free gynaecological, ENT, EYE and paediatric clinics in the month of July, August and September. A total of 910 clients attended. Many of our beneficiaries and outsiders, mainly from the slums, benefited from those consultations especially as this kind of treatment is very costly in Nairobi.