Carolina for Kibera

Carolina for Kibera (CFK) promotes youth leadership and gender, ethnic and religious cooperation in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya.  CFK also works to improve education and basic health care in the slum.

The CFK model of grassroots, participatory development facilitates investment by concerned outsiders in smart, young, promising leaders living in Kibera.  CFK leadership use the resources to develop, organize and manage community programs aimed at tackling the challenges they face as a result of living in poverty.

CFK leadership in Kibera currently manage: 

Youth Sports Program, engaging over 3,000 youth annually in soccer tournaments and community clean-ups;

Binti Pamoja (Daughters United) Center, creating a safe space and advocacy platform for adolescent girls living in Kibera;

Tabitha Medical Clinic, providing basic health care services to over 20,000 residents annually in partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and

Taka ni Pato (Trash is Cash) solid waste management, recycling and environmental advocacy program that cleared more than 2,000 tons of garbage and waste from the slum in 2006.

CFK envisions a world where the poor have a voice in their futures and opportunities for healthy growth.  We are rooted in the conviction that solutions to problems involving poverty are possible only if those affected by it drive development. Concerned outsiders can help by mobilizing communities, advising, networking, and providing resources. Ultimately, however, the community possesses the knowledge and motivation that are necessary to solve its own problems.

CFK was founded in 2001 by Rye Barcott when he was an undergraduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC).  CFK is a registered community-based organization in Kenya and a 501(c)(3) charitable corporation in the United States.  CFK is a major affiliated entity of UNC with offices at UNC's FexEx Global Education Center.