August is over! My three favorite months of the year have come to an end. I can’t help but feel a little melancholy during this time of year, just because of the little chill that makes its way into the Ohio air and memories of my childhood and saying goodbye to the childhood friends I …
In my last post I wrote about designing for the extreme user, and Nuru’s holistic, need-based solution for our target “users”, those living in extreme poverty. This week I’d like to think about a different kind of extreme user – the individual poised to break away from extreme poverty. If Nuru’s programs work as they …
A couple of weeks ago, I talked about the desperate need that we saw in a place called Moheto. People were literally drinking from muddy pits that they had dug into the ground. Since the land there is mostly flat, these pits contained stagnant water that was a breeding ground for bacteria. However, this past …
Here is what Francis and Victoria had to say regarding the recent developments. We will be able to provide a clearer assessment of the situation after our meeting on September 1st.
It’s been some time since we’ve posted about Nuru’s Poverty Intelligence Network, but rest assured it’s very much alive and continuing to shape the way Nuru understands aspects of community life. I’m Nathalie Collins, Nuru’s summer intern working alongside the foundation team here in Kuria. Unlike program managers in each of Nuru’s core areas, my …
Expanding to Nyamaharaga So we just finished our baseline survey of Nyamaharaga, one of the new areas that Nuru is expanding to. Want to know where Nyamaharaga is? Well feast your eyes on this Google Map. The locations with numbers (ie 391) are places where people are currently getting there water (“Nymaharaga Pr” is a primary …
Yesterday I went to Bhavini’s, the local grocer, to pick up a few things. While I was waiting to pay, I watched as the man in front of me laid all the school supplies his daughter needed for the coming term on the counter. He was asking Patel, the proprietor, how much each item cost. …
A Taste Of My Own Medicine Not only do the Benidictos (see last post) of the developing world inspire me to do my job daily, but motivating also is having the opportunity to take a ride in our community members’ shoes. For those of us who have grown up with the understanding that the flu …
Every two weeks I have a conference call with a group of friends to discuss a new and creative design of an ideal political economy in today’s day and age. There are four of us: one in New York, one in San Francisco, one in Atlanta, and myself in Columbus. We give ourselves some homework …
The Community Economic Development program is established on savings-led credit and good financial planning. To that extent, we have programs that encourage saving and financial planning before taking out a loan. It is a reasonable path for individual economic development. But design thinking teaches us to profile “the extreme user”. Design thinking is described as …
Moheto Stagnant Springs We just started a baseline survey in one of the new areas called Moheto (read here for info on what a baseline is), and the needs there are tremendous. In the other areas that we’ve surveyed, we at least see some protected springs, in which (relatively) clean water that pops up from …
The other day the education team was huddled around the table at Nyabikaye discussing school management best practices and drafting a plan for our school. The topic of the hour was how to set and enforce rules effectively. Sabora was sharing his thoughts on how teachers around here typically maintain order in the classroom. The …
Nuru’s Secret Weapon One of the main factors that sets Nuru apart from other organizations fighting extreme poverty is that that all operations are founded upon a ‘Service Leadership Model’ that calls for a humble, growth-focused, feedback driven, selfless approach to designing and implementing programs. For Nuru, possessing qualities of a Service Leader is crucial …
In December of 2008 and December of 2009, our CEO did a deliberate and good job of reminding us that the end of the year is just a spot on the time/space continuum, it’s not really the end of any particular task or piece of work, nor does it actually signify any accomplishment we have …
Learning Lessons Our Field Managers have gotten the water training sessions down to a science. They are now completely responsible for running the trainings in our new locations. They schedule and coordinate amongst themselves to ensure that everything is prepared for all 5 locations. It’s pretty tricky considering these locations are all about 45 minutes …