About Master Builder’s CBO

Master Builder’s is a Community Based Organization that operates in Gichagi Community in Kajiado County, Kenya. The organization seeks to promote child and youth empowerment in the target community.

Gichagi community is home to over 15,000 people within the proximity of Ngong town. The Gichagi community began during British rule when the land was dedicated to displaced refugees. In time, disenfranchised and marginalized citizens from a variety of poverty-stricken situations further settled Gichagi. Today, both extreme poverty (people surviving on less than $1 per day) and moderate poverty (people surviving on less than $2 per day) hold a tight grip on the residents of Gichagi. The name Gichagi as loosely translated means ‘remote area’ or ‘backward area’ or ‘poor area.’

Due to the extreme level of poverty in Gichagi community, children have been at the center of the challenges. A significant number of children have not been able to attend school, others have to survive with one meal in a day or none at all while others living in deplorable conditions. The closest public primary school is nearly 2km which serves the whole of Ngong town. There is therefore high congestion in this school and the teacher to pupil ratio is too large especially after the introduction of free primary education by the government of Kenya. Furthermore, there are no feeding programs to cater for the vulnerable children. 

Master Builder’s Interventions

Master Builder’s CBO first effort to help find a solution was to establish a feeding program twice in a week as from 2007 hosted in the premises of a local church. This gave the Master Builder’s CBO an opportunity to interact with the parents and persuade them to take their children to school. It also helped know the magnitude of the problem thus making more interventions. 

Master Builder’s CBO has partnered with various stakeholders in implementing various programs within the Gichagi community. These includes:

• • • Map International – Chicken keeping for orphans and vulnerable children,
    • Channels of Hope/ APHIA Plus – Orphans and vulnerable children empowerment programs,
    • Liverpool VCT – HIV/Aids Education, and awareness,
    • Rehema House Rescue Centre – Teenage mothers empowerment program,
    • Individual Partners– Late Mrs. Margaret Gathiri and Mrs. Susan Kiragu among others.