Undugu society of Kenya (USK) was founded in 1973 by the late Father Arnold Grol, a Catholic priest, after observing a growing disturbing phenomenon of children living and working on the streets of Nairobi and its environs.

USK has been working to improve the lives of children on the streets for 38 years, having been one of the pioneering organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the empowerment of street, vulnerable children and youth.

Over the years, USK has continued to be dynamic in its program, Geographical coverage, that is, Nairobi and its environs, (Limuru, Kiambu, Ruiru and Thika), Eastern Kenya region (Machakos), Western Kenya region (Kisumu) and management institutions.

Our program interventions are both curative and preventive with particular attention to advocacy, capacity development, socio-economic empowerment of marginalized communities and access to vocational skills training and basic education opportunities for vulnerable children and youth.

USK has shifted its focus from being a direct service provider to capacity building, empowerment and advocacy. This has had a great impact and change on the organization’s target group.

The USK Governance and Management Structure is as follows,

Council  

This is the supreme governing body of Undugu society of Kenya as defined and stipulated in the society’s constitution. It is the supreme decision making organ of the society and comprises of the Patron, Board of Directors, Trustees, Management Committee, Representative of Undugu Friends Circle and Representative of Community members from the USK program areas.

The council elects the Board of Directors, Board of Trustees and appoints USK auditors.

Trustees 

The Board of Trustees is entrusted with control of all USK immovable assets especially buildings, land and staff pension fund

USK Board 

Refers to Undugu Society of Kenya Board of Directors as stipulated in the society’s constitution. We have 10 board of directors with multi disciplinary skills for policy formulation and advisory roles to the management.

Executive Management

Constitutes the Executive Director and all the heads of the department.

Management Committee

Constitutes the Executive Management team, Program Managers/ coordinators and unit heads (program accountant, communications, lobbying and advocacy, manager and program technical support manager i.e. representatives of USK’s core units).

The team oversees implementation of plans, monitors progress and generates progress reports whose information is used for programming and decision making.

Networking and Collaboration

USK recognizes that, at community, national and international levels, organizations have far more influence when they are in concern. We facilitate network building, partnerships, collaborations and participation in appropriate networks at all levels. This enables,

1. The organization to learn from others, to share its own experience, to identify potential partner organizations and to pursue common advocacy agenda.

2. Include sector interest networks, geographical area networks, development issues network and networks of organizations with similar characteristics.

3. Be on large or small scale, and exist for a wide range of purposes or for a specific and focused capacity building initiatives.

4.Be able to link community groups to other service providers such as the government departments and other NGO’s and development organizations

Membership Network

Members of International Federation of Alternative Trade (IFAT)

Member of Consortium for street child- Global members for Africa

Member of Social Development Network

Member of KAARC-NGO CRC Committee

Member of National Advisory Committee of Non Formal Education

Member of National Steering Committee on Child Labor (among the 3 NGO gazetted

members)

Member of Kenya Urban Slum Upgrading (KENSUP)

Winner of 2007 Utetezi Civil Society Award by Kenya Human Rights CommissionExecutive Director

 Executive Director

CELINA OGUTU

Work Experience

Ms. Ogutu’s previous work experience spans over 19 years in the areas of grants management, project administration and program management. This experience has been acquired in reputable international NGOs such as Pathfinder International, the Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH), Hope for African Children Initiative (HACI), GOAL Ireland and Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA).  She has worked in several capacities, including Project Director, Programme Manager, Grants Manager and Project Administrator, running projects in various programme areas, among them, HIV and AIDS, OVC, Reproductive Health and Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health. These were programs funded by various internationals donors such as USAID/PEPFAR, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, SIDA and the Governments of Netherlands and Ireland.

Education

Ms. Ogutu holds a Master of Arts Degree in Rural Sociology and Community Development obtained at the Nairobi University. Her bachelor’s degree is in Education with majors in French and Business Education.

She has attended several workshops, seminars and short courses on program management, financial management and project administration, facilitated by internal as well as external trainers