About Lecden-Kenya

Leo Community Development Network (LECDEN-KENYA) is a Non Governmental Organization (NGO) focusing on various development activities in the community, for the socio-economic wellbeing of the communities in our target area. Here we do HIV/AIDS awareness/control(health)and home based care provisions for those who have been directly/indirectly affected by the disease in the community.
 

The organization was formed over 3 years ago by the local community of the target area and its environs within Nairobi District. Among the organization board members who are 5, the organization has got 3 directors who manage all the development affairs of the programme and they meet twice a month while general meetings with other stake holders usually take place once a month.  We are a registered NGO under the National NGO (Non Governmental Organization) Coordination Board Kenya. Our headquarters office premises are based in Nairobi District, city centre along Moi Avenue, Commerce house 3rd floor Suite 311.
 

We were touched by the problems afflicting the local community as a result of poverty and the HIV/AIDS pandemic in our operational area thus we had to venture to join other local and international bodies in controlling the spread, as well as providing basic support to those who have been affected.  Our organization will therefore involve the local community in selecting the target group to join the intended project whose activities will be planned and managed by the already skilled organizational staff under the supervision of the management board of this organization.

OUR NAME
Leo Community Development Network (LECDEN-KENYA) is a Project identification figure that has a lot to speak, illustrate and categorically to intervene on community. Leo is a Swahili word Meaning "Today". We not only aim to address today's problems but also  tomorrow's (future), to the people we represent.

LECDEN-KENYA began in 2005 as the Kiambiu Self-Help Community Programme in the slums of Kiambiu, Nairobi, Kenya. The program was started by community members and has now grown to include 3 feeding centers (One feeding Centre at riverside, Kiambiu Courtesy of friends and well wishers in the USA, A centre in Kibera Line Saba, Another centre in Siaya District, both courtesy of Eyes on Nature Expeditions tour firm base in Nairobi Kenya), in the care of over 500 children orphaned by HIV/AIDS. The centre in Machakos District, Makueni District, Homabay District still upcoming due to funds constraints / lack of donor funding.  Because the services of LECDEN-KENYA have reached beyond the boundaries of the Kiambiu, and Kibera slums and outside Nairobi, it was decided that the name should be changed to reflect its larger scope of services within Kenya, hence the new name, LECDEN-KENYA.
 

Executive Summary
Never before has the effects of HIV/AIDS/STI and poverty and their impact been felt among the people of Kenya on such a high scale as it is now. It is a fact that the spread of HIV/AIDS/STIs has been aggravated by poverty. It is this fact that moved us to address the issues affecting the less fortunate members of society especially in Kenya’s informal settlements. We intervened to curb the further spread by thinking of ways to best address the issues. Well-meaning Governments, Non-Governmental institutions, corporate institutions and individuals have committed so much in terms of resources to alleviate these problems but there has been very little, if any success. This is because there has not been well-planned strategies on how to make these projects sustain themselves long after the implementers’ pullout.
 

Our programme seeks to address these from a different approach. We want to implement Income Generating Activities (IGAs)/sustainable projects for the people affected and infected by the HIV/AIDS/STI and poverty so that we do not have to keep giving them perpetual help in terms of handouts whenever the need arises.
 

We chose to target the less-fortunate members of society because this is the group which is hardest hit not only in Kenya but in most developing countries. Working with these people will make the projects’ chances of success very high because they will feel that they own the project as opposed to the mentality that many people have that the poor have to be helped. In other terms we will be teaching them how to go out fishing but not giving them fish.


As a way of keeping the target group busy, and hence keep them away from risky behaviour, we intend to implement these projects both on communal and individual levels whereby they will undergo a specialized training to prepare them for the businesses.
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