KenGen Givers planting trees at Nairobi National Park during a past event. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\nToday, over 1,000 members of staff like Mr. Ithiami have joined the initiative and are fondly referred to among their peers as \u2018Givers\u2019. They commit to a monthly or one-off financial contribution or other voluntary services utilizing their time and skill to create a better society. KenGen Givers assist to spearhead and implement the company\u2019s CSR projects at each power station in line with KenGen\u2019s overall sustainability agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy childhood was interesting and had to go through challenges that taught me great lessons in life particularly on the benefits of helping, a small act can make a huge difference in how a child\u2019s life turns out to be,\u201d intones Mr. Ithiami adding, \u201cI really enjoyed school despite the hardships, it opened up my mind to a fascinating new world beyond the daily hustles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr. Ithiami owes his success to a number of people who helped him through school and has decided to join hands with other like-minded employees to give back.<\/p>\n
He renders: \u201cGivers helped me during my school days, and even when I was in college, I don\u2019t think I would have made it without the generous support I received.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other than making monetary contributions, about 25 of KenGen Givers are committed as mentors for students under the KenGen Education Scholarships program to ensure their good performance and also offer counseling and career guidance.<\/p>\n
According to Mr. Ithiami, the one thing that makes the Employee Giver Initiative attractive is the fact that, \u201cYou know very well that the resources will be used diligently for stated purposes since the fund is being managed by colleagues who are people you know and trust.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Thanks to this kitty, KenGen Givers are today able to plant over 6,000 trees every year in various locations around the country including the Nairobi National Park, Western, Eastern, Rift Valley and Coastal regions. According to Cathy Kwena, KenGen Foundation\u2019s Senior Fundraising Officer, the Giver initiative has so far collected close to 10 million shillings in a span of just about three years. This fund has also helped educate eight students through secondary school. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere is great joy in knowing that you have touched a life positively through the simple act of sharing,\u201d says Mr. Ithiami. To him, the act of giving, in itself irrespective of the amount is a great source of satisfaction.<\/p>\n
His advice to other organization who would want to implement the same model is to do it in an organized manner and allow employees to channel their donations through check-off, standing order and so on as KenGen does. <\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tKenGen Givers during a recent environmental clean up exercise at Ngong Hills.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\u201cIt is easier that way,\u201d he says in a rather reflective tone before his face beams with excitement as he adds, \u201cYou can also give in kind including skills and time spent helping others in the community. Giving opens up joy and blessings of being a vessel for uplifting humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Going forward KenGen intends to enlist up to 70% of its 2,500 strong staff complement into the Employee Giver Initiative as one of its Foundation\u2019s revenue streams towards making it self-reliant. <\/p>\n
Governed by a Board of Trustees, the KenGen Foundation focuses its CSR efforts around three key pillars of sustainability namely; Education, Environment, and Water and Sanitation in support of the UN Sustainable Development Goals which aims at ending extreme poverty, providing educational and entrepreneurial opportunities, and addressing climate change.<\/p>\n
Frank D. Ochieng, Chief Communications Officer – KenGen.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The dawn of the morning sun to many people is a sign of new beginnings, and a chance to achieve botched dreams of yesterday. To one Henry Ithiami, each ray of light is a stuck reminder of his self-bred responsibility to humanity. Having grown up through a series of difficulties as a child and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":4269,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[135,53],"tags":[136,138,139,68,67,45,79],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4222"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4274,"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4222\/revisions\/4274"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kengenfoundation.co.ke\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}