Where the network concentrates its effort

Teenage mothers and their children

The challenge: Young mothers leave education, lose income and lose access to health services at the same time, and services rarely address those together.
What SCN does: SCN connects organisations running childcare, income and return-to-learning support so that one referral can reach all three.
Example activity: A daycare model that allows young mothers to return to training or paid work. Draft — verification required
Related content: Nothing published yet
Guidance and case studies for this area are being prepared.

The challenge: Practical digital and AI skills are concentrated in a few large organisations, while small teams carry the same reporting and administrative load.
What SCN does: SCN runs plain-language literacy sessions and shares tested, low-cost tooling with the conditions and limits stated openly.
Example activity: Introductory AI literacy sessions for programme and finance staff. Planned
Related content: Nothing published yet
Learning material for this area is in development.

The challenge: Soil condition, input costs and unreliable buyers keep smallholder income low even when yields improve.
What SCN does: SCN links farming groups to practices, processing options and buyer arrangements that other members have already tested.
Example activity: Insect-based protein production for animal feed and soil improvement. Draft — verification required
Related content: Nothing published yet
Field notes are being collected from participating groups.

The challenge: Referral routes, water points and hygiene programmes are often designed separately and fail at the point where they meet.
What SCN does: SCN brings community health teams, water committees and county services into shared planning and shared record-keeping.
Example activity: Referral mapping between community health promoters and county facilities. Currently running
Related content: Nothing published yet
See the community health guidance in the Knowledge Hub.

The challenge: Training programmes end without a route to income, and young people carry the cost of the gap.
What SCN does: SCN prioritises approaches where training is attached to a buyer, a cooperative or an enterprise from the start.
Example activity: Value-chain work in food products, oils and silk production. Draft — verification required
Related content: Nothing published yet
Marketplace listings for these products are in preparation.

The challenge: Small organisations are held to the governance, finance and safeguarding standards of much larger agencies without the staffing to match.
What SCN does: SCN shares policy templates, finance practice and peer review so capability is built once and reused across the network.
Example activity: Audit-readiness clinics run by member finance leads. Currently running
Related content: Nothing published yet
Templates are available in the Knowledge Hub.