About the Campaign
ActionAid’s ‘BIG ME CAMPAIGN’ is a dress-up day with a difference. This will be a time for learners to think big and take a magical trip to the future. On this day, learners will dress up like their dream jobs/professions and learn what it takes to achieve those dreams. They will also understand the challenges that deter their age mates in marginalized communities from achieving their dreams.
Why Big Me?
In the communities where ActionAid works, boys and girls face challenges that hinder them from achieving their Big Me dreams. These vary from abuse, child marriage, drought, and Female Genital Mutilation, among others, violating their rights and ending their dreams. Kenya is facing its worst food crisis in decades following four years of failed harvests, erratic rainfall, ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, and rocketing global food prices. In June 2022, the National Drought Management Authority (NDMA) reported that up to 4.1 million people in 19 counties are hungry daily, with severe malnutrition amongst 942,000 infants and young children and 134,000 pregnant or lactating women. Families, particularly women, are taking their children– especially girls – out of school, disrupting their school attendance. Over 180,000 children are no longer attending school because there is no water or school feeding programs. In Kenya, of every 10 girls between the ages of 9 to 16 years 7 are at risk of being subjected to various forms. of violence. How Does it Work?
- The participating school picks a day for the learners to have a brief presentation from the
ActionAid team.
- The school then identifies their ‘Big Me’ Day. On this day, learners dress up as their dream job and bring a donation to ActionAid.
- ActionAid will bring on board professionals in those fields to have a mentorship session with the learners
- The best-dressed, best fundraiser, and best executed profession will be rewarded.
Through participation in ActionAid’s Big Me Campaign, your school gets an opportunity.
- For teachers to better understand their learners and support them to achieve their dreams.
- To build a group of students to support the end of violence against their peers so that they all achieve their future dreams.
- For the teachers and parents to give back to the community through payroll giving.
- Supporting 8 of our Local Rights Programs (LRPs) to boost their campaign against FGM and children’s right to acquire education.
- To have learners and teachers participate in a field visit, interact with their peers in the communities that ActionAid works with, and be ‘Big Me’ ambassadors.
- To have learners get an in-depth training/ understanding of the development work and the importance of philanthropy and spark any career interests in the development sector.
Through your donations
This is how your ‘Big Me’ donations can help children in urgent need.
- KES 1,350 could provide a hygiene kit containing menstrual products, soap, and clean innerwear for a menstruating girl to manage their period with safety and dignity for three months.
- KES 5,670 could provide a family with a cash transfer to buy life-saving food for a month.
- KES 16,875 could provide a family with a cash transfer to buy life-saving food for three months.
Be Part of the change we want to see!
All the learners who participate in the Big Me Campaign get a certificate, and a thank you card to their parents for allowing them to be part of it and guiding them. The school also receives a certificate for participation as well.
Other opportunities
- Adopt a community through your school’s corporate social investment initiative by supporting one of their projects
- You can help us rescue the girls forced to undergo FGM by buying sanitary kits, books, and food, paying their school fees, and building a safe house to help host more girls.
- Participation in ActionAid’s fundraising drives to support ending violence against women and girls.
Do not be left out, get in touch to participate as a school or mentor in the 2024 Big Me Campaign. ActionAid International Kenya Contact: Fundraising Department Mobile: 0700653153 Email: FundKenya@actionaid.org