Common Ground Project + ODW

Organization Profile:

Common Ground Project (CGP) is a registered Kenyan non-governmental community-based organization with its headquarters in Kitale, Kenya. CGP’s mission is to help mitigate poverty, the single largest threat to human well-being and social stability in Kenya. Poverty breeds hunger, disease, illiteracy and environmental degradation. It also sharpens civil conflicts. To this end, CGP strives to reduce poverty while conserving the Earth's natural heritage and biodiversity, and to demonstrate in a concrete, observable way that modern human societies can live sustainably and comfortably in harmony with nature.

CGP founded and operates a primary school (Pathfinder Academy) with grades 1-8, with 370 students, mainly orphans and vulnerable children. Each year students and faculty go out to groups such as AIDS widows groups to teach them bio-intensive growing methods in order to help them become self-reliant and attain food security. As a result of its community service, the school has received awards from the Ministry of Education for four consecutive years for being the best school in reaching out to communities. Experiences gained at Pathfinder Academy have been shared with many others through local media and international forums, which are being replicated in other countries.

ODW Partnership:

Water Tank Project

Full Grant: $1,629

ODW partnered with Common Ground to help build a water tank that stores over 100,000 liters of water.

The project activities involved procurement of materials (bricks, sand, cement, rebar, and a cutter) and construction. Members of the community were involved in the construction of the water project by providing labor. CGP provided the builders with meals at the time of contribution. The water tank provided many new advantages to improve the health and well being of the students including the:

• Ability to store water so the students won’t have to worry about collecting water everyday
• Accessibility to clean water which will reduce absenteeism
• Availability of hand washing taps with soap/ash on the storage tanks for sanitation

Most importantly, the water tank provided the ability for students to take water home to their families at the end of the day, ensuring the health and well being of the students and their families even when they are not at school.

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Resources/ Links:

One Day's Wages is committed to complete transparency with our donors and community. Below is additional information about this partner organization.

Common Ground Project: Website | Twitter | Facebook

[Common Ground blog post]

[Micro-grant proposal]

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