Our vision is to make Kenya the third country, after the UK and Germany, where national-scale support for alumni programming exists, focusing in this case on the communities most in need.
In order to develop a national alumni strategy for Kenya and place alumni engagement at the heart of government policy, advocacy and campaigning is one of our key objectives. While this might seem daunting for a small charity like ours, we managed to secure support from BBH London, one of the world’s most famous creative advertising agencies, with the help from The International Exchange (or TIE, for short – theinternationalexchange.co.uk).
TIE believes in the power of communications and leadership to solve some of the world’s biggest problems. They place talented communications professionals to work with social initiatives all around the world. Their goal is to develop the leaders of tomorrow, to shape the future of the communications industry and to provide people and companies with an opportunity to feel proud of their profession and the skills they have worked so hard to develop. And to make a difference. A real difference. To communities and people around the world.
This year, TIE and BBH are sending Andrew Connolly, Account Director at BBH London, to join Future First’s Kenyan team in January 2016 to design and implement an awareness raising campaign in Kenya, and an associated fundraising appeal, with a view to mobilizing Kenyans to achieve our advocacy and campaigning objective (Click here for Andrew’s biography). But what excites us most is how Andrew resonates with our mission.
“Education has played a huge role in my life. I went to a state school in Manchester and I was the only one for a few years to make it to Oxbridge. Going to Cambridge changed my life. Not only did I learn a lot, but I also developed a network of friends and mentors that still play a big part in my life today. Spreading this benefit to all students – regardless of their background and education – is what draws me to the work Future First are doing in Kenya.”
Indeed, we believe that alumni communities have transformative impact on the aspirations and learning experiences of students, helping them achieve their dreams regardless of their backgrounds.
Stay tuned to our updates on Twitter as we have many exciting things in store in 2016. Andrew has also launched a JustGiving campaign for us, please support! https://www.justgiving.com/backtoschool