The goal of Nuru’s Leadership Program is to empower local leaders to manage Nuru Kenya in a way that is both sustainable and scalable without Western support. Given this knowledge, we face an important and rather large question – is it even possible for local leaders who are primarily undereducated or informally educated – to …
As Gaby last wrote, we are well into carrying out the MPAT and only have about two weeks left of data collection. Our data entry is also underway with the three MPAT-recommended steps of checking, scoring and coding – that can be better understood by reading the MPAT User’s Guide. The three steps have been …
The CED program has had a busy long rain season. I mentioned when I first came on how excited I was to be here in such a wonderful season of growth, and I didn’t even understand how true that really was. We’ve launched four new initiatives, have added close to 530 new savers and will …
Our journey in Building Local Capacity to Construct Safe, Low Cost Latrines continues, and Nuru’s Water and Sanitation Program team members are having a lot of fun along the way. Who knew that compacting concrete could be so much fun? Since our friends from the Center for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) left, we …
The Education Team has successfully launched the outreach program in 6 schools throughout Nyametaburo and Nyangiti sub-locations. For the first few weeks, the outreach efforts consisted of reading hours – a program designed to stimulate listening comprehension, increase vocabulary, establish a love of reading and create an open environment in which the kids can explore …
In last week’s post, I mentioned that we actually have some MPAT data at this point, and we are working on figuring out how we will use the results. The title of the post was not that indicative of the information I presented unfortunately. I didn’t really get into how we are balancing program evaluation …
MPAT surveying has begun. Alasdair, Jamie, and Rogonga completed the two weeks of training and preparation that needed to occur prior to actual surveying in the community, and enumerators are busy going from household to household collecting data.
From the start, we knew that our success in reducing the under-five mortality rate in our area hinges on the community viewing Nuru’s CHWs as health experts and welcoming them into their homes. Unfortunately this had proven to be difficult. Initial reactions to the CHWs were lukewarm. Many households turned CHWs away.
Recently we made a decision that will have a big impact on the agriculture program and the model itself. Starting in 2011, we decided to issue input loans to farm maize only during the long rains season – not during both the long rains and short rains. This seems like a small statement and a …
The MPAT is in Kenya! We will soon hit the ground walking household-to-household with questions to give Nuru Kenya a baseline evaluation of two sublocations where we do not yet work. With 4 data entry specialists, 2 enumerator supervisors, and 12 enumerators out in the community, we are asking households in Kikurian questions such as …
Nuru recognizes the potential of developing local leadership as a powerful vehicle for driving impactful, long-term change in our projects. However, we also recognize the significant obstacles that must be overcome in order for leaders from extremely poor backgrounds to rise to their full potential in a rapidly growing organization. As I’ve continued to work …
The news is never lacking in articles and commentary on the next popular development model. There are a plethora of models out and about these days, but only a few ever reach the lime light. The focus for the past few years has been on microfinance and in particular, funding microenterprise through small loans. There’s …
At Nuru we recognize that improved sanitation is a critical part of our holistic integrated model to end extreme poverty. Diseases associated with poor sanitation are particularly correlated with poverty and infancy and alone account for about 10% of the global burden of disease (WHO, 2008).
May has found me back in the project on the brink of launching the outreach program. We have finalized a schedule that takes the outreach programs to every grade level in every public school in our area twice monthly. We will have a consistent presence in the schools without causing any interruptions in the school …
Rachel Godfrey Wood is a consultant researcher for the International Institute for Environment and Development and a regular contributor to its blog, Due South. Below is an excerpt from an recent article that was featured The Guardian. Rachel makes some interesting points on how the poor determine their own wealth, and gives and excellent review of …