ORGANIZATION HISTORY

 Advocacy for incarcerated families (AFIFA), arose from observations noted in the course of interacting with the Korinda correctional facility in Busia County Kenya, as a Discharge Board member in late 2018.Volunteer service as part of the ex-convict community reintegration team at the facility, revealed the extreme suffering that families of incarcerated men were subjected to which escaped the notice of many service providers. The situation was made worse by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic with its death tolls, terror and restrictions. In 2020 a 5 member Board of Trustees of common interest people was put together and the registration process begun following development of a proposed constitution, policies and a budget. It was not until July 8th 2022 that the NGO Coordination Board cleared AFIFA for registration. On 18th October 2022, the State department of Correctional services (Kenya Prison Service) issued AFIFA an access permit requesting the Officers in charge of the main male Prisons in each county through the Regional commander of Prisons-Western region, to facilitate liaison of AFIFA with their welfare services for the good of inmate families. Having no ready funds, the Board of Trustees, enlisted the services of volunteers who were then regarded as “the secretariat” and leased office space and equipment from a partnering Daycare and ECD Center (ShalomYah D.E.C) for integrated education. The “Secretariat” subsequently went through induction on 7/10/2022 with the offices being commissioned on 16th December 2022. With the help of friends and well-wishers, the beginning of the year 2023 saw the putting together of the first 10 member support group of Wives of Incarcerated Men Advocacy (WIMA), the launching of awareness creation campaign among the Western Region National government Administrative Officers (NGAO) and the reaching out to various like-minded organizations for possible collaboration in the furtherance of AFIFA objectives and service provision