Our partners

Since its foundation Brighter Communities Worldwide has worked as a partnership-led organisation.

We believe that partnerships are fundamental to strong local ownership and hence the long-term sustainability of our programmes. Our core principles for partnership can be read here.

Friends of Kipkelion

Friends of Kipkelion is a UK registered charity (no. 1188612) that supports water, sanitation and healthcare projects in Kenya.

The relationship between Friends of Kipkelion  and Brighter Communities Worldwide was set out in a Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two organisations in 2011. Friends of Kipkelion is independent of Brighter Communities Worldwide, but the two organisations share the same aims and values and work together very closely in partnership on fundraising,  project planning and implementation. As Friends of Kipkelion has no staff of its own in Kenya, it depends on Brighter Communities Worldwide for the execution of all projects.

UK supporters of Brighter Communities Worldwide who are taxpayers can make donations to Friends of Kipkelion which qualify for Gift Aid. All donations to Friends of Kipkelion are used on Brighter Communities Worldwide projects.

West of Ireland Partnership

In 2004, Mayo University Hospital (MUH – formerly Mayo General Hospital, Castlebar, Ireland) obstetric, midwifery, nursing and administration staff developed an interest in the community development partnership of Brighter Communities Worldwide.

Visiting teams from MUH have worked with teams from Londiani Sub-County Hospital (LSCH) and Brighter Communities Worldwide on clinical service developments including emergency retrieval/ambulance service and essential obstetric and newborn care. Shared education has continued across both hospitals including Surgical Care, Essential Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care; Integrated Management of Childhood Illness; Perioperative Nursing; Tropical Medicine; HIV Medicine; Non-communicable disease; Primary Trauma Care and Remote Emergency Care.

A five-year quality improvement partnership renewal was agreed in 2019 for MUH and LSCH facilitated by Brighter Communities Worldwide, with the welcome addition of two university collaborating partners – Kenyatta University and National University of Ireland, Galway – to strengthen health worker education and population health for the communities of both Mayo/Ireland West and Londiani/Kericho County.

Visits to Londiani (by the Irish team) and to Ireland (by the Kenyan team) have taken place throughout the partnership. During COVID-19 online workshops/meetings took place and partnership activities continued (online workshops, provision of PPE, development of a vaccine centre in LSCH).