Restoring Dignity
The Ethel Foundation for the Aged (EFA) is a Charitable Non-Governmental Organization established in 2018 by the Holy Redeemer Catholic Church congregation in Kenya to address the plight of vulnerable older persons.
Since inception, the organization has been at the forefront of providing humanitarian assistance and caregiver support for older persons who lack safety nets and struggle to meet their self-care needs, advocating for policies and programs that protect older persons from marginalization, neglect, and abuse while ensuring they have access to essential services, economic opportunities, and social support networks.
Our Strategic Goal
To create a society where every older person leads a dignified life free of want, abuse, neglect, and discrimination, ensuring older persons live with dignity, security, and inclusion in society.
Our Approach
We aim to holistically respond to the spiritual, physical, social, psychological, and economic needs of older persons in society through four thematic areas that address the root causes of their marginalization.
Our approach is based on the belief that by improving older persons’ well-being through advocacy, healthcare access, economic empowerment, and community engagement, while fostering partnerships, training caregivers, and promoting policy reforms, older persons will live with dignity, security, and inclusion in society.
Local Steps to Global Goals
The Sustainable Development Goals commitment to “leave no one behind” strongly aligns with EFA’s mission. We recognize that sustainable development cannot be achieved if older persons are among those furthest behind in achieving these goals.
EFA champions a rights-based approach rooted in Catholic Church’s Social Teaching on liberation theology, working to accelerate progress towards the SDGs by 2030, with a focus on the preferential option for the aged and poor, emphasizing human dignity and the sanctity of life.
In this regard, we focus our interventions to address Violence, Abuse, and Neglect (VAN) and the various socio-economic challenges facing older persons. We have adopted a community-based, inclusive approach that reaches out to older members of society regardless of their race, belief systems, religion, ethnicity, circumstances or political affiliation.
Impact by the Numbers
So far, our impact has transformed the lives of thousands of older persons across Nakuru, Kisumu, Nairobi, Kisii, and Tharaka Nithi counties, improving their access to essential services and economic opportunities.