Walking Again with the Marginalized: Renewing Hakimani's Mission of Justice in Eastern Africa
By Ms. Susan Nzomo
Across Eastern Africa, communities continue to confront challenges that threaten their dignity and their future. Climate change is changing livelihoods. Political uncertainty tests the strength of citizenship. Poverty continues to limit opportunity, particularly for women and young people. And for too many children, the right to education remains dependent on circumstances beyond their control.
These realities are a reminder that the mission of social justice remains as urgent as ever. For Hakimani Eastern Africa, they have also become a call to renew our presence—to listen again, to walk again with communities, and to seek practical pathways towards justice, dignity and hope.
Today, Hakimani’s work is taking different forms across the region, but it is united by one fundamental belief: communities should not simply be recipients of development; they should be active participants in shaping their own future.
When Climate Change Threatens Livelihoods, Resilience Must Begin with People
For communities whose lives depend directly on the land, climate change is not a distant conversation. It is a daily reality. Changing weather patterns, food insecurity and declining livelihoods continue to affect families and communities, particularly those already living on the margins.
In Kenya, Hakimani has been working with young women and young people to explore climate resilience through sustainable agriculture and the promotion of indigenous seeds. The work seeks to equip them with knowledge and opportunities to see agriculture differently—not simply as a way of surviving, but as a sustainable pathway towards economic independence and environmental resilience.
At a time when many young people are searching for meaningful economic opportunities, there is value in reconnecting them with practices that can sustain both people and the environment. Indigenous knowledge and seeds, combined with sustainable approaches to agriculture, offer communities an opportunity to strengthen their resilience while protecting resources for generations to come.
When Political Decisions Affect Everyone, Citizenship Must Belong to Everyone
In South Sudan, Hakimani’s work has also taken the conversation on justice into the civic and political space. Through its work on responsive politics and election preparedness, the organisation has sought to empower citizens to understand their role in shaping the future of their country.
Political participation should not begin and end at the ballot box. An informed citizen understands their rights and responsibilities, asks questions of those in leadership and recognises that their voice matters in decisions that affect their community.
In contexts where political processes can determine the direction of peace and stability, preparing citizens for meaningful and peaceful participation becomes an important investment in the future. Hakimani’s work is therefore rooted in a simple but powerful conviction: a just society requires citizens who are informed, engaged and able to participate in shaping it.
When Poverty Limits Opportunity, Development Must Protect Dignity
In Northern Kenya, particularly in Samburu and Marsabit, the realities of economic exclusion continue to affect families and communities. For many women, opportunities to earn a sustainable income remain limited, despite the knowledge, skills and potential that already exist within their communities.
Hakimani’s work in social justice and integral human development seeks to begin with that potential. By working with women to identify viable business opportunities and supporting them to develop the skills to establish, manage and sustain their enterprises, the focus is not simply on providing assistance—it is on strengthening agency.
This is what integral human development looks like in practice: recognising people not as beneficiaries waiting to be helped, but as individuals with the capacity to participate in their own development. When women are able to build and sustain livelihoods, the impact extends beyond an individual business. It reaches families, strengthens communities and creates new possibilities for the future.
When a Child Is Kept Out of Learning, We Must Ask Why
Education remains one of the most powerful pathways out of poverty and exclusion. Yet for many children in Northern Kenya, the right to education is still far from guaranteed.
A school may exist, but a child may lack the basic materials needed to learn. A classroom may be available, but poverty and other social realities can still make it difficult for a child to remain in school. These are the gaps that often remain invisible when we speak broadly about access to education.
Hakimani is currently running campaigns to help keep children in school while amplifying an important message: education is a right, not a privilege determined by where a child is born or what their family can afford.
The work is both practical and a call to conscience. It seeks to mobilize support for children and schools while asking a deeper question: What does it mean to say that education is a right if some children still cannot fully access it?
For Hakimani, ensuring that children remain in school is not simply an act of charity. It is part of the wider struggle for a society in which every child has an equal opportunity to learn, grow and shape their future.
Walking with Communities Towards Lasting Change
From the farms of Kenya to conversations on citizenship in South Sudan, from women building businesses in Samburu and Marsabit to children seeking the opportunity to remain in school, Hakimani’s work may take different forms, but the mission remains connected.
It is a mission rooted in accompaniment.
The communities Hakimani works with are not simply places where programmes are implemented. They are spaces of knowledge, experience and possibility. The role of social justice work, therefore, is not to arrive with all the answers, but to listen, to walk with people and to support the conditions that allow communities to identify and pursue their own pathways towards a more just future.
As Hakimani Eastern Africa continues to renew its presence, we do so with the understanding that the challenges facing our region cannot be addressed by any institution working alone. They require communities, civil society, faith-based organizations and institutions willing to work together in the service of justice and human dignity.
The work continues. The challenges remain. But so does hope.
Hakimani Eastern Africa is walking again—alongside communities, alongside partners, and alongside all those who believe that justice is not simply an idea to be discussed, but a reality to be pursued.
To learn more about Hakimani Eastern Africa and its work, visit hakimani.org.