#MyMomIsStrongBecause she never, ever gave up when things got hard. Not before, not now, not ever. One of my most vivid memories from the Marine Corps was a particularly vicious hill called Recon. When training for a tough physical endurance test or trying to get back into fighting shape following a tough deployment, I would …
As the world celebrates World Book and Copyright Day on Saturday, April 23rd, members of the Nuru Education team reflect on what books influenced them as children and why books are important to us all. What was your favorite book or series when you were a child? “My favorite storybook growing up was Things Fall …
One of my favorite book series when I was growing up was C.S. Lewis’ “The Chronicles of Narnia.” In these books, children from war-torn England were able to explore the magical land of Narnia with all sorts of creatures and places they had never seen. To me, these books presented a metaphor for many storybooks. …
The World Health Organization reports a shocking statistic: “Every day, approximately 830 women die from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth.” If you counted up all of these moms, it’s the same as wiping out the entire population of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania or Anchorage, Alaska or Cincinnati, Ohio in a year’s time. Even ONE family losing its …
What do you get when you bring nearly 2,700 attendees from countries all over the world—representing international NGOs, ministries of education, academic institutions and for-profit educational companies—together in one place? In one acronym: CIES. From March 6-10, Nuru attended the 60th annual meetings of the Comparative International Education Society (CIES) in Vancouver, B.C. Nuru’s focus …
As Melinda Gates points out in the 2016 Gates Annual Letter, collecting, treating and using water is a large contributor to “time poverty”—the deprivation of opportunity because of the time spent attending to one’s basic needs. In most places in the US, clean drinkable water flows from the kitchen sink and even down the toilet …
Nuru prioritizes feedback. In 2015, the UN ratified the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals which defined 17 specific goals for ending poverty. The goal that relates most to the Nuru Leadership Program is number 16, which focuses on promoting “peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development…at all levels.” Nuru’s training on “the importance of feedback” is applicable …
From the perspective of a Nuru farmer in Kenya, it may seem like International Women’s Day has nothing to do with her. In rural areas, limited economy, poor infrastructure and low education levels contribute to communities having limited or no access to social media to follow @WomensDay or #IWD2016. Despite the swell of online conversation, she …
IRVINE, CA—Nuru International is proud to welcome its newest member, Beth Van Schaack, to its board of directors. Her extensive background in international human rights, international criminal law and atrocities prevention will add significant value as Nuru tackles increasingly complex challenges in expanding to highly fragile states and achieving its mission to end extreme poverty …
VANCOUVER, BC—The Comparative International Education Society (CIES) is holding CIES 2016 at Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre in Vancouver, BC from March 6-10, 2016. This event is hosted by The University of Hong Kong: Faculty of Education and Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) and marks the 60th anniversary of the annual conference. With over 500 sessions …
NASHVILLE, TN—Tennessee Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (TNRPCV) is partnering with HumanDocs and Peace Corps to bring a free screening of “Girl Rising” to Shamblin Theatre on the campus of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee. This event at 6:30 pm CST on Wednesday, March 2, 2016 is free and open to the public and part of …
WASHINGTON, DC—On Wednesday, March 2, 2016, Nuru International will attend “Building an Evaluation Framework for Integrated Development Approaches: A Brainstorming and Conceptualization Workshop.” With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, this technical meeting is hosted by FHI 360, a nonprofit human development organization dedicated to improving lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, …
Recently, the Global Campaign for Education (GCE) estimated that 221 million children in developing countries were unable to understand the language of instruction in their schools. In sub-Saharan Africa, instruction in a non-native language is particularly pronounced due to the history of colonization. Many countries demand English or French as the language in which children …
As Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Program Manager for Nuru Kenya, I consistently work with my team to build up different strengths that enable us to objectively monitor and evaluate Nuru Kenya’s impact programs. I want to share my experience building a credible and sustainable M&E system in Kenya. Below are the five critical stages our …
2015 was a big year for Nuru Kenya. In June, our whole expatriate (expat) team living in Kenya packed up our suitcases, said our goodbyes, and headed out of town. Our Kenyan colleagues had already been running operations for a year and were well prepared to continue in our absence. Yet, this was a big …