Wow…I forgot how hard this is. The last five weeks have pretty much been a blur since I hit the ground in Boreda, Ethiopia to launch Nuru’s new country project here. It is an exhilarating adventure, but the challenges can be a bit overwhelming at times. I have had several people ask me, “What in …
Well, it has been a while. My team and I were working on trying to develop a more solid perspective on what the purpose of writing these posts is, how frequently we should write them, and what the nature of them should be. I think we have come up with a few good ideas, but …
No matter where you are in the world ‘Graduation Day’ evokes a sense of pride and celebration as it opens the door for a future of subsequent accomplishments. This was the same sentiment felt by the Home Visit Field Officers (FOs) from Kehancha and Isibania Divisions during their recent ceremony. After a busy few weeks …
In the last blog, Gaby reported that we have great news to report about the impact of our Agriculture intervention. From the 2012 Nuru farmer harvest, this is our latest & greatest: Summary In September 2012, the Nuru Kenya M&E field team collected data on the average maize yield (90kg bags per acre) for Nuru …
It is always emphasized on the leadership team that our curriculum is not set in stone, but instead continually evolves as we see new needs arise and discover innovative ways to improve our teaching. Last month we trained all of Nuru’s staff in our week-long Basic Nuru Leadership Training (BNLT). During this time, we faced break-through moments where …
Although the Nuru Kenya Agriculture Program is busy wrapping up with the 2012 maize harvest & collecting loan payments from current Nuru farmers, the past few weeks have also been filled with anticipation of the year to come. This September, Nuru Kenya Agriculture is beginning to sign-up farmers in seven new sublocations (the geographical unit …
Even if you haven’t been paying attention to the news, over the last two weeks, as you walk through the streets of Isibania, you notice that there are many children around, but hardly any in their typical school uniforms. They are at home or playing with friends, but not in school. Why? For the past …
Training Manager Robert Ndiritu and District Manager Becky Okinda show the Field Officers in training a video on fast breathing as a diagnosis of pneumonia. I’m writing this month’s healthcare blog while observing the initial Home Visit Strategy Field Officer training for Kehancha and Isibania Divisions. Our classroom at the Nuru Regional Training Center …
“A leader needs to be like a candle put on a light stand to light everywhere. Such leaders are an example in a community and there is need of people to copy them” -Response from a Nuru staff member about what they learned during BNLT For the past three weeks, the leadership team has been …
“Failing to plan is planning to fail.” A common saying around Nuru, and one that one of our Field Managers, Sabora Chacha, made sure that our newly hired Education Coordinators knew as we introduced them to our current staff and planned our schedule for the week ahead. During my first few months on the job, planning …
Harvest season is on. Agriculture and Income Generating Activities are busy harvesting and buying maize. Healthcare is in the midst of a three-week intensive training for new employees, so they can greatly extend their program’s reach. Monitoring and Evaluation is hitting the field to collect data – harvest yields for Agriculture, and baseline surveys before …
I heard the news of the death of Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi while I was working in the Nuru Kenya office in Kuria. The news ended two months of speculation about the fate of Ethiopia’s leader. As many of Ethiopia’s fellow citizens, I am shocked by the untimely death of Meles Zenawi. My heart …
The shambas (farms) of Kuria West seem deceptively quiet as the agriculture team and I conduct our fieldwork this week. The fields that just a few weeks ago were full of row upon row of tall, green maize are now barren or occupied by cattle. Along with the maize, the once ubiquitous farmers also seem …
We have gotten a few critiques on how we approach monitoring and evaluation lately from various resources. They are good critiques. I would categorize them two different ways: We have gone through a lot of iterations of our approach to M&E as well as our approach to our interventions themselves, such that at this point …
I am waiting in the Dallas airport for the next leg of my cross-country journey to Palo Alto for our annual International Operations Conference. All of the Senior Program Managers (SPMs), myself, my team, Aerie (our Director of International Operations), and Jake (our CEO) will all be on the Stanford campus for a couple of …