Hillary Manari is a 14-year-old boy who goes to Keborui Primary School in Isebania Division. He will be sitting for his national exams in the coming year. Looking back, Hillary says the Nuru Kenya Education Program has had a tremendous impact on his life. He vividly recalls how his life was before he started attending …
Al Shabaab, a Somalia-based movement known for terrorism and violence against non-Muslims, carried out a well-planned, heinous attack on Garissa University the morning of Thursday, April 2, 2015. This same group was behind the multiday Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi in September 2013. “This ruthless act is humanity at its worst,” says CEO Jake …
I’ve just returned to Southern California following my second session of the Presidential Leadership Scholars program. (Here’s my recap of Session 1 in case you missed it.) The Clinton Foundation hosted this session in Little Rock, Arkansas. The long weekend afforded incredible access to President Clinton and members of his administration – including former Cabinet …
Nuru International set out to design the first self-scaling, self-sustaining, holistic, development model to end extreme poverty in rural, remote areas, in our lifetime. We started with a pilot project in Kuria West, Kenya in September 2008. Six years later, our integrated model is making attributable impact and Nuru Kenya is months away from being …
“If Nuru International exists in 30 years, then I’ve completely failed my entire life’s mission. Our job is to work ourselves out of a job.” —Jake Harriman, CEO of Nuru International In a context of overwhelming need, we are constantly challenging ourselves: how can Nuru International impact the most people at the least cost in …
A 360 evaluation is an all-around process of giving feedback in order to create a positive change and growth to individual leaders and the organization as a whole. It involves receiving feedback from direct reports, peers and evaluating yourself. Nuru Kenya adapted the concept from Nuru International and piloted it in November 2014 with all …
Feature photo, from left to right: Hambissa leaders Robi, Kassa and Tesfaye I have had the great fortune of leading incredibly talented men and women to accomplish seemingly impossible tasks — first as an infantry and special operations Marine and currently as CEO of Nuru International. My greatest teachers were not the colonels or generals whose orders …
We all know what it’s like to feel hunger pangs. To understand what severe hunger feels like, consider these questions: In the past month, was there ever no food of any kind to eat in your house because of lack of resources to get food? In the past month, did you or any household member …
Nuru International’s mission is to end extreme poverty in remote, rural areas. Globally, 1.6 billion people live in extreme poverty [Multidimensional Poverty Index 2014]. In a context of overwhelming need, Nuru prioritized impactful and sustainable focus areas in which to work with the most people at the least cost. Thinking big, Nuru started by identifying …
Feature photo: Christine Alvitsa, Nuru Kenya Financial Inclusion Program Information Systems Specialist, enters data into Mifos at the Nuru Kenya office. Tuesday, March 10, 2015—Today marks the beginning of the three-day Global Mifos Summit in Dubai. Two Nuru Kenya staff members, Ibrahim Sifuna (Financial Inclusion District Manager) and Christine Alvitsa (Financial Inclusion Program Information Systems Specialist), …
Last week, I had the privilege of convening with 59 other leaders from across the country at Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home in Virginia, to kick off the first week of the inaugural class of the Presidential Leadership Scholars (PLS) Program. PLS is an unprecedented program co-sponsored by the presidential libraries of George W. Bush, …
The Leadership Program equips Nuru leaders to identify the needs of the community; design solutions to address those needs; and effectively and efficiently implement and scale solutions. What is Servant Leadership? Servant leadership is an approach to leadership that focuses on humbly serving those one leads and putting the needs of others before yourself. Servant …
“We believe in the beauty and power of an individual empowered with knowledge and skill to solve the challenges that extreme poverty creates in her nation. We strive to work with her to remove the obstacles surrounding her that prevent her from realizing this full potential and power for change.”—Jake Harriman, CEO of Nuru International …
Nuru International is pioneering a solution to end extreme poverty in remote, rural areas. We believe that in pursuing this solution, we will find new ways to solve old problems. There is risk in being a pathfinder. With risk comes failure. Nuru will not complete its mission without failure. Failure will lead to our success. …
In August 2014, I participated in BRAC’s Targeting the Ultra Poor Immersion Visit which offered a unique, hands-on experience inside of BRAC’s Bangladesh operations. I learned about BRAC’s “graduation” approach, which provides people with a host of services and benefits to move them out of ultra-poverty and eventually into sustainable livelihoods. As a practitioner, I see …