CIVICOM AID
Communities Together, Designing Their Future
We work in remote high-rainfall regions, remote dry regions, and slum regions across Africa.
VISION
Thriving, self-reliant communities
Vision: Thriving, self-reliant communities, where every person can learn, farm, and earn.
MISSION
Reducing extreme poverty at its roots
Mission: We work to reduce extreme poverty by equipping vulnerable communities with access to education, sustainable agriculture, and income-generating opportunities.
Who We Serve
We serve the most marginalized communities living in extreme poverty — people too often left behind.
- Family Farmers
- Social Entrepreneurs
- Out-of-School Children
- Out-of-School Youth
- Persons with Disabilities
- Refugees
Poverty at Its Roots
In remote rural villages, drylands, and urban slums across Kenya and Uganda, poverty has passed from parent to child for generations. It starts when children get little or no good schooling. Many leave school early and move to the slums to find work. When they cannot find steady work, many go back to the village to farm — but without the skills to do it well. The cycle repeats, generation after generation. Civicom Aid works across three connected pathways to break this cycle at its source.
Three Pathways Out of Extreme Poverty
Community Education Access Program
Children have inherited a problem their parents' generation could not fix: for over 20 years, they have studied under this tree, exposed to strong winds and rain, writing on the floor and unable to write when it is wet. They walk over 15 km a day to fetch unsafe school water, which makes them sick, and return to school tired. They hide behind trees as makeshift toilets, which pollutes the area.
Left unaddressed, these problems follow children into their youth — they drop out early and miss out on skills training. Left unaddressed, they follow youth into adulthood — trapped in poverty. Left unaddressed, they follow adults into the wider community — weakening it for the next generation.
For children, the fix is classrooms, toilets, water points, and school supplies. For youth, it is free online university courses, STEM training, and scholarships that help dropouts return to learning.
Those who leave school without this help carry the same problems into the next pathway.
Slum Social Business Growth Program
Youth in remote villages and dryland areas inherit worn-out soil and old farming methods passed down through generations — this pushes them away from farming. Looking for a way to earn a living, they move to the slums to find work.
In the slums, they arrive with little more than the pressure to survive and a will to earn. They start small businesses that rarely grow or last, and when these businesses fail, they lose the little money they put in. Without an education, they are left with casual jobs that come and go and pay poorly. Many return home each evening with no work, stuck in poverty. After years of setbacks, some go back to the village to farm again — but with little or no farming skill to draw on.
Civicom Aid steps into this cycle by coaching willing entrepreneurs, giving them start-up funds, and offering ongoing support so their businesses grow and last — so the move from village to slum and back no longer has to end in poverty.
Those who return to farming without skill or experience carry the same problems into the final pathway.
Farmer-Managed Community Restoration Program
Family farmers in remote rural villages and dryland areas inherited soil that has lost its fertility over generations. This soil lets rainwater run off instead of soaking in, leaves the land bare and without trees, and leaves communities open to the worst effects of climate change. The farming methods passed down with this land are just as old — and using them has worn the soil down further, made climate change worse, and helped crop pests and disease spread.
Left unresolved, the next generation will inherit soil too poor to farm, deepening hunger, poor nutrition, and school drop-out — closing the cycle back to where it began.
Civicom Aid steps into this cycle by coaching family farmers in regenerative farming to rebuild soil fertility and grow more food; introducing low-cost natural land restoration and bund-building to bring back plant cover and slow climate change; and giving farmers Plantix, an app that spots pests and disease and tracks crop health at every stage.
HOW WE STARTED
Kenya, 2018, Makueni County
One journey through Makueni County changed everything.
In 2018 during a pivotal journey to Makueni County, Kenya, Jonathan Munyany encountered a stark reality. While touring the vast and flourishing properties of a wealthy businessman seeking help exporting meat to the Middle East, Jonathan observed a profound contrast. Amidst the prosperity of ranches, he couldn’t ignore the persistent poverty and destitution in the villages.
The absence of young adults, the vital force for community development, struck Jonathan deeply. Inquiring about their whereabouts, he discovered that many had left for towns and cities in search of jobs and reliable access to food and water. However, these urban areas offered little in terms of quality living conditions, with workers from villages residing in makeshift slums
Jonathan’s exploration revealed young men in the villages grappling with substance abuse and limited hope for the future. Disturbingly, some planned to marry young girls due to the scarcity of women their age. Motivated by these dire conditions, Jonathan delved into the issue further, visiting Nairobi to understand why young people felt compelled to leave their homes.
Their response was poignant: “In our villages, there is no water, no resources, no food.” Women and children traveled long distances to fetch water, and people in drylands struggled for every meal. The critical realization emerged—water was the key. Determined to make a difference, Jonathan initiated a multifaceted approach.
Armed with information, Jonathan worked with local community members to start CIVICOM AID and its design Farmer-Managed Community Program. Through this program, dryland region would break free from a century-long cycle of land degradation, drought and abandonment. Jonathan’s journey illuminated a path towards transformation, driven by the fundamental belief that water could be the catalyst for positive change.
From business journey to organization
That experience became Civicom Aid, which describes its model as built to grow across the remote dryland regions and beyond. The idea is that as communities grow stronger, they become hubs that train and support their neighbors. The organization's own timeline gives 2022 as the year its work began, and its social business program reports results from 2023 onward.
CIVICOM AID
Civicom Aid is a nonprofit Public Benefit Organisation (PBO) based in Mombasa, Kenya, registered with the Public Benefit Organizations Regulatory Authority (PBORA).