What’s up?
Techfugees is BACK in Kenya 🇰🇪 After months of suspense, the Kenya Chapter will (re)join Techfugees family 👪 As of April, 494,649 refugees have been identified (UNHCR). The economic, political and social situation of the region, mostly in Somalia and South Sudan, intensified displacement towards Kenya these past few years. A lot needs to be done to address the situation, which is why Techfugees feels extremely lucky to have a new team on board! We are delighted to introduce you to Mary and Philomena, co-leads of Techfugees Kenya! 👇🏿
Meet the (new) team!
Mary
Philomena
Could you please introduce yourself and your team to the Techfugees community?
MARY is an innovation enthusiast and business developer with a passion for empowering displaced and marginalised youth and women in relation to technology development, education and gender equality. Her specialities are in strategic project management, business development, human resources, multi-stakeholder partnerships, policy engagement and programs operation. “I am excited to join Techfugees to empower displaced humans and support tech innovation that’s designed by, with and for them.”
PHILOMENA is a technology consulting professional from Nairobi, Kenya. Her interests lie in leveraging technology to solve people’s most pressing needs. By joining the Techfugees community, she hopes to contribute towards creation of tech solutions for displaced people, which can transcend the East African region to benefit displaced people in other regions where Techfugees has a presence.
How did you hear about Techfugees?
MARY: Priscilla, former Techfugees regional coordinator, was introduced to me by one of my network colleagues in the technology and entrepreneurial ecosystem circle. Finally, I attended the Techfugees hackathon and recommended a few of my colleagues as hackers.
PHILOMENA: I learnt about Techfugees through the interaction of an organisation that partnered with my work. I learnt of the mission of Techfugees and was involved in organizing one of the first Techfugees meetup sessions in 2017.
Which are the displaced people’s main needs in your country?
Displaced people in Kenya face numerous challenges, and the most glaring are shelter, poor health, water and sanitation, poor quality education and a source of livelihood.
What are your projects for the next days, weeks and months?
As we relaunch the Kenya chapter, we aim to hold a number of activities. We will begin with research into the ever evolving landscape of displaced communities in order to identify gaps we would address through the Techfugees Kenya community. This will be followed by meetups to bring together different actors in the technology and humanitarian space to further drive the mission of Techfugees. We also aim to hold bootcamps and a hackathon at the end of the year.
With which kind of organization (tech, NGOs, universities, officials,…) do you plan to partner with?
We are looking to partner with local and international tech organisations with a presence in Kenya as well humanitarian and social good organisations that are interested in working with displaced people. We would also aim to form partnerships with local corporates who would sponsor chapter activities. We are also keen to continue developing previous partnerships like iHub, Google Kenya, Oracle, Samuel Hall.
–
You wish to help Mary & Philomena run Techfugees Kenya Chapter and empower displaced persons and refugees? Volunteer your skills
You are impatient to meet with the new team? Join them for their Techfugees Kenya Re-launch event