Farmer Savings Program Workshop
An update from CED Program Manager Vivian Lu outside a Farmer Savings Program Workshop.
Nuru Kenya
Nuru International First Third Party Evaluation
Mind the Gap – Gapminder I can’t stop looking at and playing with this website: Gapminder. It’s really amazing. It gives you, at just a glimpse pretty much every kind of socio-economic and environmental data (and then some…I just spent some time looking at livestock statistics…not sure where they fit in to those two categories) …
The Human Right to Healthcare and Sustainability in Rural Kenya
The other night, a man came to the health center. The only nurse, Stephen Sangara, works eight hours per day and then sleeps on the premises. But he’s on call 24 hours a day, every day. The man awoke him, shouting in the night. Mr. Sangara came to the gate and opened it. The man …
Communication and Technology in Rural Kenya
In just a couple of weeks FT3 will be hosting the first team of outside observers to come and critically evaluate the work the foundation teams have been doing on the ground over the last year. The evaluation team will be here for almost an entire month gathering data on all five of our development …
The Boda Boda Market
I have a scar on my right shin from trying to start a crappy motorcycle that I stalled out in the mud. There’s kind of an art to gracefully negotiating sub-par motorcycles on the goat paths and rutted hills of Kuria West, an art that I am better off leaving to other people, like the …
Mobile Clinic Immunization and Local Government Challenges
12:00PM on Thursday. I have been called, right before I am going to eat. The vaccines are not approved by the Ministry of Health (MOH). Even though they were approved the day before, they are now unapproved, which means I have to drive an hour by motorcycle on a very dusty road to resolve the …
Happy Birthday Nuru
If I could choose a superhero power, I would choose to be able to stop time. Mostly, so that I could sleep. Which probably isn’t what a superhero would do. Then again, my second choice power would be to be able to eat 5,000 calories a day without gaining weight. Yes, these are the things …
Early Childhood Development Classrooms
Some days I can’t help but think, “Geez, I’ve taken a heck of a long commute to get to work.” From the moment I wake up underneath my mosquito net to the last moments I lie awake listening to the rain pound on our tin roof, I am conscious of the fact that I have …
Savings-led Initiative Transitions to Credit
Nuru International’s Foundation Teams in Kuria, Kenya work hard to promote savings, planning, and budgeting as the cornerstones of the program foundation. So far this year, the CED program has developed several effective strategies to empower Nuru members: the Savings Club Program to accomplish; the Farmer Savings Program, and the Apprentice Program. The CED Program …
Savings Club Success for Mkombozi
Introduction to the Nuru International Research Program
This is my first blog post! I am very excited to start communicating with the whole wide world about what I think about every day of the week: poverty measurement. Since this is post number ONE, I’ll start with a little background! Our Senior Research Officer, Stephanie Jayne and I manage Nuru’s Measurement and Evaluation …
Community Support Essential in Education Programs for Rural Poor in Kenya pt. II
The following week Tamwi and I researched the total cost of all the books Gukipimo needed. The price came out to about 50,000 ksh (approx. 675 USD). After playing with some numbers and estimating how much each farmer in Gukipimo could reasonably contribute to buying books, we decided that for every 100 shillings that Tamwi …
Tracking Spread of Disease Through Mobile Phones
Disease Intelligence Network, Part II A while ago I told you all about the concept of the Disease Intelligence Network. As a refresher, the elevator pitch is this: we plan to collect health data and make it useful to the health workers. We want to know who has a cough (and where they are) this …
Thinking Small
Most days, I think about my work environment – meetings outside on the grass surrounded by maize fields and cute children – and I feel pretty lucky. Today is not one of those days. David and I are doing our weekly audit of the health center books, not my favorite task. It’s like a painful …
Community Support Essential in Education Programs for Rural Poor in Kenya pt. I
When I first visited the primary school in Gukipimo I thought, “Wow, this place looks like it came straight out of one of those sponsor a child ads on tv.” Of all the schools we are working with, Gukipimo is the one in most dire need of infrastructural development. While the primary school has the …