Vickie Wambura Wamonje
Ashoka Fellow since 2013   |   Kenya

Vickie Wambura Wamonje

Nafisika Trust
Vickie Wambura is reducing the rate of recidivism in Kenya’s prisons by focusing on rehabilitation and shifting society’s negative prejudices and stereotypes of prisoners.
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This description of Vickie Wambura Wamonje's work was prepared when Vickie Wambura Wamonje was elected to the Ashoka Fellowship in 2013.

Introduction

Vickie Wambura is reducing the rate of recidivism in Kenya’s prisons by focusing on rehabilitation and shifting society’s negative prejudices and stereotypes of prisoners.

The New Idea

Vickie is unlocking the potential of ex-prisoners and reducing their rate of recidivism by redefining the role of prisons as safe spaces for reformation as well as professional and personal development. She engages citizens, including teachers, corporate professionals, students, universityRead more

The Problem

Research studies around the world have shown the unmistakable link between unemployment, poverty, and crime, demonstrated by the tendency for these situations to coexist. This is the case in Kenya’s crowded urban informal settlements, home to the majority of Kenya’s poor and unemployed urban youthRead more

The Strategy

For professional training, Vickie is building and engaging a network of professional volunteers to train and mentor prisoners on range of professional and business management skills. Her organization, Nafisika Trust, has developed the first prison entrepreneurship curriculum that is taught withinRead more

The Person

Although Vickie was born to a middle-class family of six she remembers her household never consisting of less than thirteen people at any given time. She attributes this to her mother, who she describes as an eccentric giver who spared nothing to help neighbors and extended family. Having pickedRead more

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