Kids Club Kampala were recently featured in the new Edge of Change magazine by Women in Change, which aims to unite women who are leading change and driving impact in the world. One our our amazing trustees, and director of Change Right Joe Kipling shared her thoughts on how businesses can have a big social impact.
Here's what Joe said ...
Change Right believes that small acts of kindness can create big social change. As an SME we can't make large investments into social impact programmes, instead, everything we do is rooted in our desire to build better communities, whether our workplace community, client communities or places we live and work.
This commitment is driven by leadership and as one of those leaders I'm passionate about promoting inclusion and reducing inequality. I believe that a person's background should not limit opportunity and we must encourage different voices into the workspace.
It's through this commitment that we built our relationship with Women in Change. We're always keen to support rising stars in the industry and we were blown away by the passion behind the network. The generosity I've experienced from people in the network is testament to it's leadership.
Change Right supports many initiatives, including working with youth groups to improve aspirations and supporting international and environment projects. Each project feeds our desire to grow skills and build resilient people led communities. Alongside financial support, it's important to recognise how invaluable our skills as change makers are to volunteer organisations. There is an opportunity for everyone to make a difference and bring meaning to what we do.
We are also a corporate sponsor for Kids Club Kampala (KCK). KCK supports 300,000 people across 12 communities in Uganda, providing access to education, safeguarding, training and more. I love the fact they are locally led, and community driven with a team of 50 staff and volunteers in Uganda and 6 UK staff.
I've been a supporter since 2017 and became a Trustee in 2023. As an organisation we've been involved since 2020. My involvement began when I invited myself on a friend's volunteer trip. There are moments in life that are seared into your memory. My first day in Uganda was one of those moments. I was volunteering in an educational facility and can vividly remember the intense dry heat, the smell of damp sand from a recent rainstorm and the noise as the children headed to the community school. It's one of those moments when you realise, you're exactly where you're supposed to be.
At times the poverty felt overwhelming. Despite a lack of housing and limited sanitary conditions the children came to school everyday as they understand that education is a route out of poverty. I also met women involved in community projects, running successful businesses, and driving change within their communities. When given the opportunity to provide for their families they embraced it with both hands.
It's easy when faced with extreme poverty to feel overwhelmed and initially, I wasn't sure how to help longer term. On a practical lever, I sponsored a girl I met at an education project to go to school, and I started to fundraise in my community. However, the most significant contribution from myself and Change Right has been the ability to share skills. Smaller charities do a surprising amount of good with limited funding. Supporting with coaching, strategy and capability development provides access to skills the organisation doesn't have available. It's also been a great way to bring the team together to do something good. Don't take this from me. I'll leave the final words to Jo Black, KCK CEO for her insights on corporate volunteering ...
" KCK is a small, ambitious charity that can only thrive and deliver impact alongside others. The value of the work and time given by corporate volunteers has advanced our organisation far beyond what we could pay in consultancy fees. Our priority is to keep our costs as low as possible. This means our tiny team in the UK focusses on fundraising and communication so that we can send as much money to Uganda as possible. Without corporate volunteering, we wouldn't have been able to raise funds for communities that desperately need it. If you can spare a day, even an hour, donating your skills to a small charity you can make a huge impact. We love working with Change Right and we're a stronger organisation because of them" - Jo Black, interim CEO of Kids Club Kampala
We are so grateful to Joe for taking this wonderful opportunity to highlight our work in Kampala, and the importance of taking action.
All of our partnerships are monumental in supporting communities in Uganda to break the cycle of poverty. Would you like to find out more about partnering with Kids Club Kampala? Click the button below to find out what we can offer you and to hear from some of our current partners about their experience.
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