Activity Report
Location: Other
Activity Date: 16.06.2025
Start Time: 7:30 AM End Time: 5:00 PM
Facilitators: Thomas Ogalo, Kelvin Otieno Opondo, Samambo Johannes Ingosi, Ruth Obilo, Spencer Akoth, All volunteers
Number of Participants: 2400
Male: 1000 Female: 1200
Activity Purpose/ Summary:
The gathering honored the bravery of the Soweto children of 1976 and renewed Africa’s promise to protect, educate, and empower every child. Guided by the 2025 continental theme, “Planning and Budgeting for Children’s Rights: Progress Since 2010,” the celebration brought together more than 2,000 children from Kisumu County. Better Me showcased its Play for Change football for development initiative, funded through the FIFA Foundation Community Programme, highlighting how sport, advocacy, and rights-based budgeting can come together to improve the lives of children in informal settlements.
Personnel Input:
Programmes Coordinator Thomas Ogalo led the overall design of the day and delivered a keynote on rights-based budgeting. The volunteer coaching squad, along with community volunteers, ran football clinics and life-skills drills for several hundred children. Meanwhile, the rest of the social work team collected real-time attendance and feedback. The communications team kept everyone updated on social media. Community Health Volunteers took care of safeguarding, translation, and crowd management throughout the event.
Achievements:
Child engagement was high: 2,400 participants—51 percent of them girls—took part, and 96 percent reported learning something new about their rights. Thanks to the football sessions, 320 young people enrolled regularly for training in Nyalenda, including 28 new girl players. Media coverage on Citizen TV, NTV, KTN, and three radio stations reached an estimated 1,850,000 viewers and listeners. Importantly, representatives from the County Children’s Department publicly committed to introducing dedicated budget lines for child protection initiatives in the 2025/26 fiscal year.
Unanticipated Achievements:
The children who attended the event received dignity kits, which included sanitary pads for girls, while boys received boxer shorts and vests.
Supporting Partners:
County Government of Kisumu
State Department for Social Protection and Senior Citizen Affairs
Kenya Redcross
FIFA Foundation
