Francis Odhiambo
COO and co-founder @ ChezaCheza
Co-Founder of ChezaCheza Dance Foundation
Franco Odhiambo is an award-winning youth leader who was born and raised in one of the
largest slums in Kenya known as Kibera.
He is a mentor, life coach, and a talented dance educator who has experienced and knows the difficulties of growing up as a child in a marginalized community. Growing up he did not know how to handle his environment and navigate life here. All he wanted was a safe space that gave him the right tools to handle his
challenges. Luckily, he found his voice in DANCE and started to give children in his community what he lacked growing up – a safe space to express yourself and guidance from a mentor, a chance to dream again and reach your full potential.
He is a Dance educator who is hugely passionate about using dance to promote social-emotional learning in education. He believes that you can learn beyond a desk to support educational outcomes, and we need to create conducive learning environments in disadvantaged communities. He is motivated to change the outcomes for children and youths in marginalized communities and beyond by making the future generation more resilient, giving them a safe space and the right tools to reach their full potential, and creating employment opportunities.
Because of this, he founded the ChezaCheza Foundation, a non-profit that uses the power of dance in a therapeutic framework to build the strong minds of children and youths living in marginalized communities and schools. With a mission to create access to safe spaces for children and youths in vulnerable communities and schools where dance supports their mental health and well-being teaching them social-emotional skills and life skills to allow children and youths from marginalized communities to realize their full potential.
