MESSAGE FROM THE CEO

Wholesome and Dignified Lives; Celebrating
25+ years of Social Transformation

When the Anglican Development Services Western Region (formerly Anglican Church of Kenya Western Region Christian Community Services – ACK WRCCS) set out, the aim of the organization was to empower poor rural populations to achieve socio-economic development. The impetus for venturing out was to intervene socio-economically given the high poverty levels, with communities leading undignified lives. Right from the onset, CCS reached out to and partnered with like-minded institutions to make this goal a reality. Progressively, the organization embraced an integrated approach to community development in its strategic focus thus giving attention to livelihood interventions, advocacy, health, environmental stewardship, education, and governance. In the context of a national realignment of the development arm of the Anglican Church, ACK WRCCS was rebranded to Anglican Development Services Western Region (ADS-W) in 2014.

As we celebrate the silver jubilee of ADS-W, we look back. We are very grateful to God, to our partners and stakeholders at all levels for the milestones that we have achieved, a summary of which is detailed in this handbook (Titled: ADS-W Milestones from 1997 –2022). Notably, ADS Western and her partners pioneered some of the agricultural technologies that have been widely embraced both within the region and beyond. Some of these include propagation of tissue culture banana, promotion of hematic bags for post-harvest handling of grains, championing of grain amaranth production in Western Kenya, and pioneer contributor to the apiary value chain in Western Kenya.

Purposefully, our silver jubilee celebratory initiatives are in line with our thematic interventions and institutional sustainability as follows;

Peace promotion; Given that our anniversary celebration falls within an election year and is in line with our advocacy interventions, we aim at promoting peace before, during and after the general elections mainly through continuous peace messaging targeting more than 1 million people, directly and indirectly.

Tree planting and growing; As part of our efforts towards environmental stewardship and through the Green Anglicans Movement, we aim at mobilizing and planting 250,000+ tree seedlings across the region. The target is to plant in learning institutions, churches and religious institutions, community areas, and rehabilitation of degraded forest areas – Maragoli Hills Forest, Kakamega Forest and Mt. Elgon Forest.

Development of a regional resource centre; The aim is to establish a centre of excellence with training facilities, a demonstration section of our various technologies, office space and offices to sub-let as part of institutional and community sustainability.

Impact documentation; The aim is to document the impact of ADS-W interventions together with her partners over the years, through audio-visual capturing and a handbook. These will be made available to the wider audience through various channels including mainstream and social media.

As we celebrate this silver jubilee, we are alive to the fact that there are still significant challenges that must be surmounted in the journey towards dignified and wholesome lives. The poverty levels within our target Counties are still high, with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, high levels of environmental degradation, increased incidences of sexual and gender-based violence, and challenges in service delivery within devolved governments among others. Indeed, it is Aluta Continua.

The greatest aspiration of ADS-W appertaining to our next steps is to build a sustainable and resilient institution for sustained community engagement.

We remain very grateful to our esteemed partners and stakeholders for accepting to journey with and coming alongside ADSW in the journey of transforming lives.
As we journey on into the foreseeable future, we remain committed to our guiding scripture:
Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

Our Prayer: Psalm 90:17 May the favour of the Lord our God rest on us; establish the work of our hands for us— yes, establish the work of our hands.