It has been a busy few months here in the Leadership Program. Our staff has been hard at work preparing and practicing for our next round of trainings, which will begin at the beginning of October with Focus Project 2 (FP2). This training focuses on how specific staff roles and responsibilities are assigned, developed, and …
After a challenging 2013 long rains season, the Nuru Kenya Agriculture program (NK Ag) is gearing up for a fresh start. Next year, the NK Ag team will be encouraging crop diversification among Nuru farmers by offering inputs and trainings for crops other than maize. It will be the first year Nuru farmers grow alternative …
With the Education Program’s expansion into Mabera this year, and further expansion in the future, we determined that our Training Manager George Nyamweya could not be in the two different places at the same time. George had been doing a great job of delivering trainings to the team during school break times and office days, …
As Thomas mentioned in his previous post, my name is Brian Viani and I am thrilled to be working with Nuru as the new Program Facilitator for Foundation Team 9 (FT9). I am originally from New York City and have a Master’s degree in International Relations from NYU and a Bachelor’s in Political Science from …
Nuru International’s work areas in Kenya and Ethiopia are rural agrarian communities in extreme poverty. These communities are vulnerable to risks and uncertainty in many facets of life. This blog recounts Nuru International’s strategy to bolster the resilience of farmers in these communities. Where Nuru works, farmers’ income is largely derived from small-scale rain-fed agriculture …
Financial sustainability is crucial to the Nuru Kenya Agriculture program’s ability to serve increasing numbers of farmers each year. The Agriculture team strives for this sustainability by making strategic staffing decisions, working efficiently and minimizing operational costs whenever possible. Another huge contributor to the Nuru Kenya Agriculture program’s sustainability is the collection of loan repayment from …
Alex Martin graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to lead infantry, reconnaissance and special operations units in multiple combat deployments. Upon leaving active duty, Alex started a private maritime security company that served commercial shipping interests in the Indian Ocean. In July 2013, Alex was given the opportunity to join the …
1. Microfinance Industry failing people living in poverty? Since the 1990s, there has been a great deal of hope and enthusiasm that the microfinance industry would help to bring millions out of poverty through provision of microcredit. However, the once hailed panacea for poverty alleviation has been under strict scrutiny for failing to achieve …
For the second straight year, Nuru’s Education team was faced with a long national teacher strike. Last year, the strike lasted nearly three weeks. This year the strike over pay closed schools for nearly one month. While these interruptions result in our team not being able to go to schools and teach, the time was …
I previously wrote a blog post on why opening a Nuru project in Ethiopia is so critical to getting the Nuru Model to proof of concept. As I reflected on that post, I realized that I had never written about why we chose Kenya to launch Nuru’s pilot project. Most people who encounter Nuru for …
A cornerstone of Nuru Kenya’s model is generating income to drive the organization towards financial sustainability. The engine behind this income generation is the Nuru Kenya Social Enterprises (SE) program. The Nuru Kenya Agriculture program already collaborates with SE on many ventures including input distribution, loan packaging and market provision. For the 2013 short rains …
Nuru International is a social venture committed to ending extreme poverty in remote, rural areas. Nuru’s Agriculture Program frees families of episodic hunger and provides an economic base that equips them to deal with shocks and continue lifting themselves out of extreme poverty. On average, farmers who plant with Nuru during the long rains season increase …
The Nuru Education Team welcomes Jolene McCall! Below, find Jolene’s initial thoughts and hopes for the Nuru Education program. Nearly four years after completing my Peace Corps service in Niger, West Africa and returning to the United States, I was anxious to revisit the continent of Africa and to begin my brief stay in Isibania, …
As Nuru’s Community Economic Development (CED) program grows, a key requirement for training emerges. We not only want to encourage farmers to save and offer them a secure place to keep their money, but we also want to impart to them the skills and knowledge to make wise decisions with the money that they have …
Nuru Kenya farmers regularly face and overcome numerous challenges to crop production to get a good harvest: inconsistent weather, poor infrastructure, inaccessibility, and crop disease, to name just a few. In the 2013 long rains season a new threat, Maize Lethal Necrosis Disease (MLND), was detected in Kuria West. MLND is a crop disease that …