Of Bicycles and Leadership What’s the missing ingredient in International Development? This has long been debated as aid has continued to fail to work. I’ve been thinking about “leadership” as the missing ingredient in development efforts. You can pour all the money in the world into a leaderless pit of bureaucracy and never fill it …
It’s unusually hot and rainy for January. The maize is turning golden and farmers have begun to harvest. With the granary construction just about completed, the Nuru team is getting mobilized for a busy month of buying maize and receiving loan repayment, followed by the issue of next season’s inputs. Payment for maize will be …
Rats are spiteful, evil geniuses. They had a field day while we were gone for the holidays, eating the soap and carpeting my room with poop. They turned my laundry into a nest of half-eaten bugs, poop, and shredded underwear. I find it funny that I can’t stand rats and they did this to my …
I just arrived back this week. Nothing has really happened yet, so I’ll just write about what did: a 49 hours and 52 minutes of planes, trains and automobiles, except without the trains. Which is the shortest amount of time it’s yet taken to get from my door in California to my door in Kenya. …
We arrived back in the project last Wednesday, less than a week into the New Year. Although the foundation team has been gone for more than three weeks, life here in Kuria and the projects here on the ground have continued to steadily push ahead during the holiday season: our Nuru headquarters has been moved …
A belated Christmas message from Foundation Team III (David Carreon, Vivian Lu and Chelsea Barabas) as they head home for a well-deserved break. They’ve already returned to the project and are hard at work in Kuria.
Whew, this wild three-week evaluation is nearing its end. Our evaluators, the interviewers they hired, the Nuru staff here on the ground, and Stephanie, the manager of the Eval, have worked amazingly hard to do this job. I can’t believe what they have been able to accomplish in just a few short weeks. We have …
Whoa, we are here!! Crazy. Stephanie, myself, and our two evaluators, Sarah and Crystal, strolled into the Nuru house a one week ago yesterday. Our schedule has been absolutely full since then. Stephanie organized and is in charge of the evaluation, Sarah and Crystal are doing all the data gathering. I’m supervising. You know how …
Yesterday was one of the best days I’ve had in a while. I slot a few days every week to go around and visit the farmers and check up on them to see if they are practicing the farming techniques that we have taught them and just to say hi and see how their families …
Yesterday was one of the best days I’ve had in a while. I slot a few days every week to go around and visit the farmers and check up on them to see if they are practicing the farming techniques that we have taught them and just to say hi and see how their families …
Today, the CED field officers were extended formal positions with Nuru. They have been working with us as volunteer leaders for 6 months. For the last few months, we have been training on topics ranging from group bookkeeping to loan approval and management. We also focused on building client trust and relationships, which has turned …
I’ve been rather bored these past few weeks. Why? Because when it comes to our base training, I’m not needed any more. The training materials were purchased (without me). The copies were made (without me). The schedule was made (without me). The logistics were organized (without me). And the trainings were carried out by the …
When I arrived in Kenya, Nyametaburo Health Center (NHC) was in a sorry state. Janine, my predecessor, did an excellent job of identifying needs at the center. And believe me, even listing the problems was quite a task. Counting down, I’ll describe the top three problems at NHC and what we’ve done.
Attendance at the first financial planning workshop for Farming Savings members was 185! 186, if you count the cow that wandered inside during the workshop at Sirori Simba. Apparently, this is a good omen in Kuria. I was excited about the attendance. My field officers were excited about the cow.
At Nuru we try to avoid starting programs that run parallel to the development responsibilities of the national government, such as building our own private schools, repaving public dirt roads, or providing electricity to remote villages. Instead, our approach is fundamentally based on partnership with the community. That means that we intentionally work within the …