SVQF Commits $250,000 to Combat Poverty in Maasai Village in Kenya

Two Year Project to Benefit 2,000 People with Infrastructure, Education and Health Care; Expands on Proven Development Model

NEW YORK, Oct. 11 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- SVQF announced today it will invest US$ 250,000 in holistic development and poverty alleviation in Osenetoi, a Maasai village in south west Kenya where 70 percent of residents live on less than $1 or $2 per day.  The wide-ranging two-year commitment, which was made through the Clinton Global Initiative, aims to tackle a variety of development factors stemming from extreme poverty, including literacy rates that are less than 10 percent for women and 20 percent for men.  

Announcing the new project, Sanam Quraishi, Founder and CEO of SVQF, said, "I am proud that SVQF can use its resources to help the people of Osenetoi to enhance their quality of life after years of enduring extreme hardship."  

SVQF's work in Osenetoi will adopt proven community development models used in Salabwek, Kenya, where the organization has radically improved the prosperity, health and education of 5,000 Kipsigi tribal people.  SVQF will again work with implementing partner, Free The Children, to provide holistic community development support.  

Over a two-year period, SVQF will fund the construction and furnishing of classrooms and teachers' quarters, the provision of basic health care services, a source of safe water, the construction of latrines and hand washing stations, and the implementation of an alternative income program for the community's women. Specifically, its program will include:

• Education:  SVQF will reach 325 children in Osenetoi with new educational opportunities through school building, teacher capacity building and the introduction of new school management techniques.
• Health:  SVQF will expand access to standard health care facilities and medical resources through the introduction of mobile health clinics and community awareness efforts to improve health in schools and homes.  The infant mortality rate in Osenetoi is currently 15 percent.
• Water and Sanitation: SVQF will construct latrines, hand washing stations, and boreholes, as well as conducting water sanitation education programs.
• Income Generation:  SVQF plans to offer micro-enterprise development support, as well as business and literacy skills training.
• Women and Girls:  SVQF plans to reach approximately 1000 women and girls in Osenetoi with health and empowerment initiatives.  

SVQF's community development project in Salabwek has succeeded due to a network of partners who helped complement the education and health care components of the project.  Based on this experience, SVQF is welcoming additional partners who might offer financial or programmatic support.

About SVQF

SVQF, founded in 2006, serves to empower those in need by enhancing their potential while alleviating their poverty.  SVQF's mission is to alleviate extreme poverty.  To this end, SVQF supports experienced organizations that provide the basic needs of communities living in extreme poverty while building a framework for the communities to sustain their progress.  This support is both financial and in-kind in that SVQF forms relationships with other organizations to complement and strengthen the existing project.   For more information please visit: www.svqf.org

About Free The Children

Free The Children was founded in 1995 by international child rights activist Craig Kielburger when he was only 12 years old, and has since grown into the world's largest network of children helping children through education. Since its inception, Free The Children has affected the lives of over 1 million youth around the world in 40 countries through its innovative education and development programs. Free The Children and Craig Kielburger have been recognized on several occasions for their excellent work, receiving the World's Children's Prize for the Rights of the Child in 2006 and four nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize.

SOURCE SVQF