Darul Kheir Community Centre Organization And Management

Darul Kheir is governed by a six-member board of directors, including representatives from different target groups (such as women and youths), Muslim leaders, local community leaders, and administrators. This team oversees the management and administration of the Madrassa and all other programs under the DK umbrella. The program implementation team is led by the Program Director, whom the Program Coordinator, Program Assistant, and specialized Project Volunteers assist. The Darul Kheir Community Centre project activities are planned and implemented by community-based volunteers and community members, who also form the organization’s general assembly. In addition to the local program team and community-based volunteers, Darul Kheir also leverages the efforts of external sponsors who assist in building the capacity of local volunteers and support the organization in resource mobilization.

Professional Strength

1. Adaptability to cope with and meet the requirements of the diverse socio-cultural environment of The Cosmopolitan Nairobi Region.
2. Highly qualified, experienced, and devoted professionals, board members, and staff.
3. Adept leadership and guidance from Muslim clerics, scholars, and faithful.
4. Overwhelming support of local people and communities.
5. Acceptance as a representative of the ordinary people of the area.
6. An extensive network to undertake initiatives at the grassroots level.
7. Availability of state-of-the-art modern equipment and tools.
8. Strong partnerships for undertaking innovative initiatives.

Vision: An educated and empowered Muslim community. Mission: To provide Affordable, wholesome education to the less fortunate in the Muslim community.

Core Values:

• Educate: Education is at the heart of Darul Kheir's mission. The organization believes in the power of knowledge to transform lives and communities. Darul Kheir provides formal and Islamic education through its various programs, fostering intellectual growth and spiritual development.
• Integrity: Being honest, transparent, and ethical in all dealings. For Darul Kheir, this means adhering to the highest standards of conduct in its operations, ensuring that resources are used effectively and responsibly, and maintaining trust with the community it serves.
• Unity: Fostering a sense of togetherness and mutual support among community members. Darul Kheir works to build strong, resilient communities where everyone contributes to the collective well-being. This value is reflected in the organization's collaborative problem-solving and disaster management approach.
• Empowerment: Equipping individuals with the skills and resources they need to improve their lives. Darul Kheir's vocational training programs and enterprise development training show how the organization empowers community members, particularly women and youth, to become self-reliant and contribute to the local economy.

Thematic Programs

1. Education Fund
2. Adult Literacy and Women Learning
3. Women Arabic and Islamic Initiative
4. Madrassa Program
5. Economic Empowerment
6. Talents and Skills Initiative
7. Curbing Crime and Violence
8. Disaster Management
9. Food Program
10. Partnerships

Mukuru Slums — The Crucial Darul Kheir Operations Area 

Darul Kheir engages its operations in Mukuru Slums. The broad scope of operations is oriented towards providing holistic and integrated services to address different humanitarian needs of the inhabitants of the Mukuru informal settlements. The CBO focuses explicitly on the essential physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual well-being needs of the expansive slums and empowers disadvantaged communities with the skills and capacity to be in charge of their development. The slums of Mukuru are home to over 600,000 people. Most of these people have left their rural homes because of poverty and came to the city hoping to find work. Some are successful, but the majority, unskilled and uneducated, remain jobless. They live in poor shacks made from cardboard or plastic, while those better off have houses made from corrugated iron sheets or similar substances. These one-roomed houses are approximately ten by ten feet and have no sanitation or running water. There is no waste collection, and most of the household and other waste goes directly into the nearby river. For more than 9 years now, Darul Kheir has been implementing different projects throughout the Mukuru villages- Mukuru kwa Reuben, Mukuru kwa Njenga, Sinai, Paradise, Jamaica, Kingstone, Mariguini, Fuata Nyayo and Mukuru Kayaba.

What The Darul Kheir Community Centre Philosophy Entails

Our philosophy is pegged on the teachings of the Holy Quran and principles depicted in three United Nations Sustainable Developmental Goals: Goal 3 — Good health and well-being, Goal 4 — Quality education, and Goal 10 — Reduced Inequalities. We endeavor to foster improved management of the nexus between sustainable development and urbanization challenges in the informal settlements concerning advocating for the community’s wellbeing, acquiring education, and reducing inequalities influenced by increased poverty and gender discrimination. We emphasize that sustainable urban development is a dynamic process posing various needs at different time phases. The ideal state of development can only be achieved through sensitizing and applying the principles of equity and equality. Such a desirable outcome can be realized upon admitting consistent interventions based on designed frameworks that incorporate the requirements projected by the communities, active participation of the community, and all stakeholders — all under the leadership of an able project management team. Our mission and commitment to serve the Mukuru community are primarily informed by this philosophical approach that has, to a more considerable extent, been inspired by the Holy Quran's teachings. This is why Darul Kheir initiated an educational fund program to help impoverished children, youth, and women acquire Islamic education and formal education. We aspire to use the pen and book to teach men and women that which they knew not. This is why we started the Islamic teaching program for children, youths, and women who desire to learn Islam and live by its holy teachings. We have also gone a step further to make adult literacy programs and other economic empowerment programs available to better the livelihoods of Mukuru Slum Residents.

Darul Kheir Is Relentlessly Working Towards Meeting Its Goals

Darul Kheir is relentlessly working towards meeting various community demands. For instance, we are developing effective linkages with government line agencies, nongovernment organizations, and donor agencies working for community development. Equally important, we are implementing programs to provide essential healthcare services (preventive and curative), including maternal health and child healthcare. In addition, we are also integrating programs such as safe drinking water, hygienic sanitation, management of waste disposal, population welfare, immunization, etc., leading towards reduced mortality. Notwithstanding, organizing issue-specific and objective-oriented campaigns helps us build social pressure to influence decision-making at national and international levels in favor of the community's deprived, marginalized, and vulnerable segments.

1. Formal Education

We are investing heavily in the education systems and providing the Mukuru community (children, youth, and women) with unprecedented access to Islamic and Formal education. We mobilize resources for this course while ensuring that these resources are used effectively by reducing spending inefficiencies and ensuring we get the most value from such initiatives.

2. Integrated Solutions

Promoting integrated care and support for orphans and other vulnerable community members- by promoting the rights of vulnerable children through community sensitization and establishing care and support mechanisms for the neediest, like provision of educational materials, clothes, school fees, and social inclusion.

3. Limitless Empowerment

Vulnerable women's economic empowerment and self-dependency. This is pegged on the desire to educate many of Mukuru’s slum community, which is highly illiterate. We aim to educate these women by admitting them into our adult literacy program. We also endeavor to promote and improve women's business skills- through Tailored small business and enterprise training for vulnerable women, Developing innovative and sustainable social enterprise models and partnerships to sustain growth for the initiative, and Organizing practical training on small enterprise identification, management, record keeping, customer care services, and financial management skills.

4. Career Mentorship

We are improving youth income and access to information through youth skills development. Darul Kheir intends to promote youth empowerment and alternative education to school dropouts through vocational skills training and development of entrepreneurial skills; Promoting Youth access to valuable information relevant to improving their standards of living and incomes; Setting up a vocational training center; and Conducting youth sensitization workshops, leadership training, entrepreneurial skills training, and life skills development skills.

5. Finances & Resources 

We offer avenues for women and children to advance their rights- to acquire education and improve their health and earnings. At the same time, we are establishing a resource center to facilitate target communities and local-level institutions through information, education, and communication.