Mashirika, the Kiswahili word for NGOs, isn’t new to the young or old in many African countries. When I look back on the history of NGOs here in my hometown of Migori County, Kenya, many organizations came and left. Specifically between 1991-1994, I remember seeing 4×4’s cruising around as a lot of healthcare and education …
Feature photo (left to right): Team Leader Alex Martin, Nuru Kenya Country Director Pauline Wambeti and Nuru International CEO Jake Harriman at Nuru Day on June 5, 2015, celebrating the milestone of expat exit. “I’d rather drink a warm beer while being self-deprecating than a cold beer while being self-serious.” – Alexander Martin Last night, I …
Akilah.net, the career advice website for the Akilah Institute for Women in East Africa, named Nuru International in 2015 list of The 6 Most Inspiring Companies to Work For in East Africa. Bennadette Mugita—who oversees the Agriculture, Financial Inclusion, Healthcare and Education Programs as Nuru Kenya’s Impact Program Manager—shares about her experience: Q: What do you find …
Feature photo: Members of the Nuru Kenya Monitoring and Evaluation team review early results from an Agriculture Program survey. In my two years as Team Leader at Nuru Kenya, the most critical lesson I’ve learned is the importance of making data-driven decisions. Nuru International Agriculture Program Strategic Advisor Matt Lineal puts it best: “Data first, judgment …
In 2013, Alice Eminza Mubusi was facing financial ruin. Barely making more than her average daily financial requirements and having lost her son to an unexpected family crisis, Alice and her family were forced to live hand-to-mouth with her meager farming income. However, armed with a burning desire to make life better for her family, …
Feature photo: After receiving training from Brian (right), Nyangi (left) trains Andrew (center) on how to plot out the boundaries of a Nuru Kenya farmer’s land on Google Maps using a wrist-mounted GPS navigator. Maps record the current world. They depict what is known, capturing a freeze frame of life in mid-beat. The course of …
These days, I enjoy working side-by-side with Nuru Kenya Country Director Pauline Wambeti, leading a staff team 250 strong. Since 2008, we’ve enabled over 78,000 people in Kuria West (Migori County) to take their very first steps on the road out of extreme poverty; and what a difference our work has made. However, I remember the …
In April 2015, Nuru Kenya received a visit from Genesis Analytics, a multinational consulting firm that advises governments and companies in emerging markets. This was their second visit to Nuru Kenya, hence they were familiar with our on-site and field operations. Both visits were at the request of the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable …
Feature photo: Nuru Kenya conducts an interview with Kenya Ministry officials. What is social mapping? Social mapping is a process used to more accurately understand the needs in various communities. It provides a robust picture of the key stakeholders, levels of poverty, and climatic conditions in a given area. Using a variety of tools (such …
Our eagerly awaited day had finally arrived. Nuru Kenya staff – Tom, Sifuna, Rogonga, Bennadette and I (Pauline Wambeti, Nuru Kenya Country Director) – jetted off for an exchange visit with Nuru Ethiopia from February 2-7, 2015. Our expatriate colleagues, Kristin and Amy, accompanied us. Ethiopia is Kenya’s neighbor to the north and quite a formidable …
Hillary Manari is a 14-year-old boy who goes to Keborui Primary School in Isebania Division. He will be sitting for his national exams in the coming year. Looking back, Hillary says the Nuru Kenya Education Program has had a tremendous impact on his life. He vividly recalls how his life was before he started attending …
Nuru International set out to design the first self-scaling, self-sustaining, holistic, development model to end extreme poverty in rural, remote areas, in our lifetime. We started with a pilot project in Kuria West, Kenya in September 2008. Six years later, our integrated model is making attributable impact and Nuru Kenya is months away from being …
A 360 evaluation is an all-around process of giving feedback in order to create a positive change and growth to individual leaders and the organization as a whole. It involves receiving feedback from direct reports, peers and evaluating yourself. Nuru Kenya adapted the concept from Nuru International and piloted it in November 2014 with all …
Feature photo: Christine Alvitsa, Nuru Kenya Financial Inclusion Program Information Systems Specialist, enters data into Mifos at the Nuru Kenya office. Tuesday, March 10, 2015—Today marks the beginning of the three-day Global Mifos Summit in Dubai. Two Nuru Kenya staff members, Ibrahim Sifuna (Financial Inclusion District Manager) and Christine Alvitsa (Financial Inclusion Program Information Systems Specialist), …
49 year-old Josphat Mokami Maroa lives in Nyangiti, Kenya. Anyone who has met him knows to never mistake his soft-spokenness for timidity. Even from the rhythm of his gait, you sense a palpable determination. Josphat is surrounded by the fruits of his labor: nine healthy children all in school living among three rooms on three arable …