About us
Promoting community development in sustainable measures
Community Forum For Advance And Sustainable Development is a registered community based none profit in kenya. We are a women’s rights organization that believes that no meaningful development can happen in a community without equal contribution from women. COFAS therefore work with the local communities to bring the rights of women as part of development agenda. We therefore support local communities to see Gender Based Violence for what it truly is, a crime against women
Community Forum for Advanced and Sustainable Development changed its name from Community Fight Against GBV and HIV/AIDS in September 2018. COFAS was formed in 2003 by Ms Elizabeth Akinyi Mökkönen and her friends in Makadara Sub-County of Nairobi in
Kenya. They later registered the group as a Community Based Organization to support women who had lost their husbands to HIV/AIDS and were thrown out of their homes by their in laws.
It was from this that Ms Elizabeth and friends became desperate to make a difference and even though she was only 25 years she knocked doors of cooperate entities like Unileaver (East African Industries) , Kapa Oil Refineries, National Cereals and Produce Board, Wakulima, churches, etc and request them to give her food products they did not need and she would go share with families who had lost bread winners due to HIV and other illnesses.
In 2017 tensions prevailed in Kisumu leading up to the General elections and Ms Elizabeth with the support of her friends moved there to be engaged in peace building campaign in collaboration with other actors. The Post Election Violence that followed brought death and suffering with women and girls bearing the brunt of Sexual Gender Based Violence. The events that followed dramatically changed Ms Elizabeth and her friends because finally they had found their purpose in life, fight with all it takes against Gender Based Violence.
Since 2017 Post Election Violence COFAS has rescued over 300 girls and young women who have suffered from Gender Based Violence. The organization offers them accommodation, medical, psychosocial and legal support to help them recover and heal.
Strategic Niche
COFAS Promotes leadership and guidance to the women’s movement: We have been at the forefront of campaigning to end VAW, making the problem visible as a human rights issue, and a health and social challenge, and placing it on local community agendas. Our campaign to end GBV draws on our experience and promotes women’s leadership so as to contribute to social transformation towards gender equality.
