ORPHAN AND DISABILITY OUTREACH This programme reaches out to orphans and orphan headed families and those in the community with a disability. ORPHAN OUTREACH PROGRAMME
Our orphan outreach program consists of five components: Relief, Agricultural Training and support, counseling, Economic Empowerment and education. Currently our AMREF MAANISHA provides technical and financial support while Okoa is the implementing partner. Our goal is to target approximately 2,200 families in four project centers over the upcoming 6 years period with grant assistance from new partners.
The mission of this program is to work with the orphan families in Rift valley where child-headed homes are an increasingly common social and development issues. These children most often slip through the cracks of large and broader community development efforts. They are affected because they are socially isolated and ostracized as a result of the stigma of HIV/AIDS which is the primary reason for the death of so many parents and guardians. Also land clashes that took place in 1992 made more families to become homeless. Orphan families are usually left with very little to sustain them as most of the families resources have been exhausted during their parents illness/clashes. More children ranging in age from toddler to 17 years of age are being left to provide and care for themselves as their living conditions deteriorate. The point is that all over Kenya, the same situations exists. All over Kenya, AIDS orphans are either dying or languishing in poverty needlessly in the absence of appropriate basic support. As always solely because they are children. The goal of OKOA orphan program is to meet the immediate nutrition requirement and basic living condition needs to these families. After food, clothing and shelter needs are to be met; we provide these families with skills, tools and resources necessary to begin on a path towards a sustainable, health and hopefully lives. They will receive continued emotional and technical support but they will be supporting themselves economically after proper implementation of sustainable projects in the community. The project also gives orphans one fundamental right- the right to be children. Click here to download word document presenting program profile and progress.
DISABILITY OUTREACH 
Okoa is also targeting the needs of the disabled community, that is those with physical and sensory impairments, those with a learning disability and those with medical conditions such as epilepsy. This group is often left isolated and margalinised in the community, and are left disempowered in education and social economic development. OKOA aims to work with these groups through education in the community so to promote empowerment and inclusion. This will be through advice and support for parents / carers on managing and understanding the condition, referral to other sources of help such as hospitals etc and guidance on activities to do at home.
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