The newly elected Shofco Urban Network (SUN) community leaders in Kakamega and Vihiga counties promised to paint the region blue by mobilizing groups to join the initiative.
The leaders, who include County Chairperson, Vice Chair, Youth Leader, Woman Representative and Persons with Disabilities Representative, said they will focus on SUN objective of empowering the community from the ward to the county level.
SUN brings together individuals and households through social groups managed independently to actively seek tangible change in their communities.
Elected Kakamega County SUN Woman Representative Elda Omar Mali said she will mobilise individuals and groups to join the initiative to get empowered.
”As SUN Woman Representative, I will bring women together in Kakamega to work as a team, and empower themselves to earn a living and uplift their lives. I will work with all woman groups to bring change in the community.
“There are groups that collapsed and I will work hard to revive them so that as a county, we all succeed. Majority of SUN members are women and that is where we should all focus our energy,” Mali said.
Mali vowed to work closely with all groups to make sure that SUN is in all 12 constituencies in Kakamega County.
Vihiga County SUN Chairperson Bishop Manoa Wakoli thanked SUN members in Kakamega county for giving him a mandate to represent them at the county level.
Wakoli also extended his appreciation to SHOFCO Founder and CEO Dr. Kennedy Odede for establishing SUN in the region.
The bishop said in partnership with SUN national leadership, he will deliver his agenda to the people of Vihiga County.
Wakoli clinched the SUN top seat after garnering 61 votes, beating his closes competitor Reverend Martin Anami who got 11 votes.
The elected leaders were trained on leadership, SUN objectives and how to perform their duties for the benefit of SUN members from the grassroots to the county level.
SUN is operating in 31 counties across Kenya.
SUN members benefit from SHOFCO services such as education, health, gender-based violence prevention and response, WASH, and Sacco.
Dr. Odede, who observed the elections in the region, encouraged the new SUN leaders in the two counties to serve their members diligently and with dignity.
The SHOFCO boss said his focus is to empower communities from the grassroots to the national level in order to raise their living standards and encourage them to have a voice on societal issues facing them.
”We really engage community members to hear the issues affecting them and talk to political leaders to see how they can help.
“These elections are meant to get us people who are concerned about the interests of the people from the grassroots to the county level,” Dr. Odede said.
SUN has so far conducted ward and sub-county level elections in Mombasa, Kisumu and Nairobi counties.
SUN community programs provide resources to further economic opportunity and advance human rights, creating space for individuals to pave personal paths out of poverty.
