By Felgona Ochieng & Faith Muthigani - KRA Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

KRA has rolled out its mentorship programme for students, with its inaugural session attracting more than 40 primary and secondary school learners in Soweto, Kibra. The learners were mentored in life skills, hygiene and health amongst other community engagement activities that demonstrate the role of KRA in not only economic development, but also social empowerment. The initiative is implemented under the Education Pillar by Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) volunteers.

Volunteerism in KRA

Volunteerism has been adopted as an enabler of CSR, where staff invest their time and resources to engage with the community on social-related causes aside from their tax collection duties. This demonstrates the human face of KRA and contributes towards empowering Kenyans. The mentorship initiative is a sub-set of the volunteerism programme under the Education Pillar and targets youth from underserved areas enrolled in primary, secondary and university levels. The programme is aligned to the school calendar and runs during school holidays.

Speaking during the event, KRA Chief Manager in charge of Public Relations and Communication, Ms Sheila Mugusia said: “The CSR volunteers are the KRA faces of humanity. Community engagement is an important programme for KRA as staff drop their tax collector tag and impart practical skills through community outreach using structures already put in place by the government.” 15 KRA staff participated in the inaugural session.

Ms Mugusia noted that mentorship is an important tool that complements parenting as it provides students with diverse experiences that empower them to face challenges both in school and in the community. She thanked the host, Janris Foundation, for inviting and partnering with KRA. The mentors were commended for their dedication and added that KRA is committed to showing its human face to the community.

Highlights of the Day

The mentees were divided into four groups for boys and girls in high school and boys and girls in primary school. The girls were mentored on life challenges, with menstrual hygiene and reproductive health taking up the biggest percentage of the half-day event. During the plenary session with parents, the importance of ending period stigmatisation was highly stressed. To curb this, the need to involve men in the menstrual hygiene subject was seen as a viable solution.

Government institutions were also challenged to come up with policies that would ensure mentorship programmes are sustainable. This could be done through the government institutions partnering with Community Based Organisations (CBOs). Period poverty was also reported as a challenge among the mentees, with some being reduced to using their books as sanitary towels and others indulging in transactional sexual relations as a trade-off.

The boys talked about challenges of peer pressure, drugs, poor sanitary hygiene and lack of strong male mentors to guide them through life. The male volunteers suggested coming up with a programme that focuses on boys.

The CSR programme implements its initiatives through partnerships with likeminded institutions. For the success of the event, KRA partnered with various organisations including, Nivalishe pad, Do it with Boldness and Bold Phase Initiative who complimented the event as subject matter experts. These organizations are founded and led by youth who have undergone similar challenges as the students in Soweto.

The mentees were part of the needy students supported by the Janris Foundation, which helps underprivileged families in the area. The Foundation also took the opportunity to award the best performing students. KRA donated four boxes of sanitary towels from staff.

The session concluded with parents being urged to give their children a listening ear, besides providing food, shelter, education and clothing. KRA’s mentorship programme is designed to equip students with skills needed to attain self-leadership as they transition into employment and enter the tax bracket.