What Macheo does

We find it unacceptable and deeply unfair that the simple fact where you are born determines the rest of your life and your future. We call this ‘the lottery of life’.

Macheo’s mission is

“To empower and protect vulnerable children and their communities so that these children can lead a bright future.”

Macheo’s vision is

“A society where children live happily, in a safe, caring and stimulating environment that promotes the best of their potential.”

With ‘the lottery of life’ as our starting point, we work – without any compromise – from the following basic principles:

• We work for the vulnerable children in the urban slums and rural areas around Thika, Kenya.
• Every child has a right to a safe, loving, caring and stimulating family.
• Where possible we work together with the (local) government; we don’t compete, we reinforce each other.

• Integrity: we behave in an honest, ethical and thrustworthy manner.
• Child orientation: we display a personal, caring, professional and efficient way to respond to pronounced and unpronounced children’s needs. The children’s best interest is always our guiding principle.
• Impact maximalization: we set ambitious goals and strive towards creating the highest possible impact for all beneficiaries with continuous improvement.
• Teamwork: we show respect for the views and contributions of other team members. We listen, support and care for others. And actively build on our team spirit by reconciling conflict and adapting to the team. See it, say it, fix it.
• Professionalism: we value the expertise and skills of workmanship, take the corresponding responsibility and invest in our professional development.

• We believe in tailor-made solutions. There is not one solution for the challenges these vulnerable children and their families face. The situation is too complex.
• This is the reason why we approach identified needs in a holistic way: we aim to see the total picture, including root causes, instead of dealing with only one (symptomatic) need.
• Macheo wants to help as many children in the right way as possible with our scarce resources. The resources have to maximize our social return on investment. We have been inspired by the school of thought of effective altruism (www.effectivealtruism.org)
• When we help we look further then only the one individual who needs help; where possible we involve the entire community to partner with us to solve the needs.

In 2005 Marnix Huis in ‘t Veld and Maureen Kromowirjo quit their jobs to work in Kenya as volunteers in an existing children’s home. Marnix and Maureen (both 1974) got to know each other during their study Human Resource Management at the ‘Hogeschool van Rotterdam en Omstreken’. Marnix then worked as an organisation consultant and Maureen as a personnel consultant.

When they arrived in Kenya in 2005, they were struck by the appalling conditions in which children live in the many slums, often living with grandparents who are too old to take care of them, or with families in far too large families. In poor health, with no safe family situation and no education, the future for these children is simply bad. Marnix and Maureen wanted to work to improve the situation. Marnix Huis in ‘t Veld has been currently the managing director of Macheo in Kenya until 31st december 2023. He currently serves as Macheo’s Business Development director. Co-founder Maureen Kromowirjo has returned to the Netherlands after a few years in Kenya and is now active for Stichting Macheo Nederland.

Macheo Children’s Organization is the main organization in Kenya. Here all the daily work is carried out by the Kenyan staff, under the leadership of our Managing Director, Sarah Mbira. Except for Marnix Huis in ‘t Veld, all 123 employees are Kenyan. We only work with non-Kenyan volunteers in specific, quality-improving projects. At Macheo, volunteers never work directly with the children.

In Kenya Macheo is officially registered by the Non-Governmental Organizations Board and we fully comply with all required laws.

All assets and legal obligations of Macheo are registered in the name of Macheo Children’s Organization NGO.

In Kenya there is an independent board that appoints the director, determines strategy, approves budgets and appoints the independent auditor.

In the Netherlands Stichting Macheo Nederland supports the activities of Macheo in Kenya. Their website in Dutch is www.macheo.nl

In the USA Macheo US (EIN Number: 46-0628413) supports the activities in Kenya. The board of the 501(c)(3) foundation raises funds, organizes promotional activities, takes care of communication in the Netherlands, maintains contacts with donors and sponsors through newsletters and takes care of the finances. The website of Macheo US is www.us.macheo.ngo

The Kenyan, Dutch and US board members are 100% voluntary and try to minimize overhead costs. In this way we guarantee that as much sponsorship money as possible goes directly to what they are given for: to the children in Kenya.

Our plans and data can be found here.