How U.S-based Foundation is Fostering “networking” of Catholic Sisters in Kenya

Nairobi, 10 July, 2023 / 10:05 PM

The facilitation of capacity building projects, and related empowerment initiatives under the helm of Catholic Sisters are some of the ways that the U.S-based Conrad N. Hilton Foundation is fostering the “networking” of the members of the Association of Sisterhoods of Kenya (AOSK). 

In an interview with ACI Africa ahead of the visit of the CNHF President to Kenya, AOSK Executive Secretary, Sr. Pasilisa Namikoye, acknowledged with appreciation the grant of US$1.5 million from Hilton Foundation, which she said facilitates operations of 36 Vocational Training Institutions under the auspices of Catholic Nuns in Kenya.

“The Conrad Hilton Foundation has helped to strengthen the networking of the Sisters within those institutions. They are able to collaborate on various issues,” Sr. Namikoye said during the July 8 interview.

The Catholic Sisters’ partnership with Hilton Foundation, the Kenyan member of the Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi (LSOSF) said, “has helped bring the collaboration and networking of the institutions (in) different regions.”

The Hilton Foundation-sponsored Sisters Led Youth Empowerment Initiative (SLYI) is helping young people acquire skills and address the challenge of unemployment among disadvantaged youth in Kenya, the Executive Secretary of AOSK told ACI Africa.

She explained, “What we are doing right now is to provide financial support for needy and vulnerable youth from 15 to 25 years. There is also capacity building and enterprise development where the youth are given money to start off small businesses.”

“We also focus on supporting the institutions to acquire equipment that helps them to teach, and provide skills," Sr. Namikoye said about the 36 capacity building centers that are part of the AOSK-Hilton Foundation partnership.

The vocational institutions in the program offer courses such as hairdressing, fashion and design, plumbing, masonry, carpentry, tailoring, catering, and electrical, she said, adding that 432 youth have benefitted from the capacity building initiative. 

The AOSK official further said that the AOSK-Hilton Foundation partnership through the grant has facilitated the realization of some five "mega businesses" that Catholic Sisters in Kenya oversee. 

AOSK member Congregations have realized “a start-up, a production unit or a business venture where they are able to accommodate and employ the youth," the Nairobi-based LSOSF members said about the five “mega” enterprises undertaken by the Emmanuel Sisters, the Franciscan Sisters of St. Anne (FSA), the Sisters of Mary of Kakamega (SMK), Sisters of St. Joseph of Tarbes (SJT), and Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA/Salesian of Don Bosco Sisters). 

Sr. Namikoye went on to thank Hilton Foundation for the support. She said that the July 12 visit by the CNHF President, Peter Laugharn, will be “an opportunity for us, representing the association (AOSK) to personally thank the President of the Hilton Foundation for the support of the work of the Catholic Sisters."

In an earlier note to ACI Africa, Hilton Foundation’s Program Officer, Catholic Sisters, Africa, said that Mr. Laugharn’s visit will have him interact with Catholic Sisters involved in initiatives that CNHF facilitates.

“On (July) 12th he will be visiting some of the grants for the Catholic Sisters Initiative,” Sr. Agnes Njeri of the Sisters of St. Joseph (SSJ) of Mombasa said in her July 3 note, adding that “dinner with the grantees and partners” has been scheduled at a Nairobi hotel.