After months of hard work, the Education Team rolled out its new curriculum to begin the school year on January 6, 2014. George Nyamweya, our Training Manager, and Jolene McCall, Education Intern have been putting in a lot of effort for the last 6 months on new lessons for our students in Pre-Unit (Kindergarten) through …
In October, I wrote about the Nuru Kenya Agriculture (NK Ag) Program’s new crop offerings including brown sorghum, finger millet, maize and Grevillea trees. While the NK Ag team is very excited about growing new crops, convincing farmers to embrace diversification can be a very challenging task for any agriculture program. To encourage farmers to …
“With enhanced creativity, instead of problems you see potential, instead of obstacles you see opportunities, and instead of challenges you see a chance to create breakthrough solutions.” “Creativity is incredibly important as we address challenges that come our way and to build a better future. It can be enhanced by learning idea-generation techniques, building environments …
Nuru International is delighted to announce a new partnership with Kiva, a non-profit organization which connects potential lenders to people without access to traditional banking systems. Our partnership with Kiva is based on a shared goal to alleviate poverty and this shared ideology: “We envision a world where all people – even in the most …
Nuru’s Community Economic Development (CED) program was honored at the Mifos Summit, in October of 2013, with the award for the most innovative Micro Finance Institution (MFI) sponsored by Mifos and Google. The presenters noted Nuru’s use of financial inclusion, as well as other programs, in working to eradicate extreme poverty in an innovative and …
During this time of the year, it is only natural to look back and reflect on the accomplishments and challenges of the previous year. We reflect, regret, and realize how we have failed and where we’ve succeeded. In terms of the Leadership Program, there have definitely been a lot of challenges and some fantastic accomplishments. …
As the Nuru Kenya Agriculture (NK Ag) program gears up for growing new crops in a new season, I took some time to hear from one of the NK Ag program’s founders, Andrew Sinda. Andrew, who is currently a field director with NK Ag, was one of the people who helped start Nuru in Kuria West …
Nuru Kenya’s Agriculture Program is offering a diversified loan package in 2014, including a robust mix of crops including maize, brown sorghum and millet. This recent blog posting from Amy Sherwood lists the benefits of the crops package in contributing to nutrition, food security, and resilient rural livelihoods of farmers in extreme poverty in Kuria …
It was about two years ago when we first began talking about “cross-pollination” at Nuru. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines cross-pollination as “the transfer of pollen from one flower to the stigma of another.” Though I had never used the word in a sentence before literally or as a metaphor, it was an exciting idea. We …
Within this update, Rebecca Okinda Adhiambo, Nuru Kenya Healthcare District Manager, writes a wonderful introduction and welcome to Athena Child Fleisher, Healthcare Program Facilitator. Below, Becky shares Athena’s first impressions of Kuria, Kenya and her hopes for the Healthcare program. As District Manager (DM) of Nuru Healthcare it is my pleasure to introduce you to …
Since joining Nuru I have had to field a lot of questions about the specific function of the Leadership Program. Many people have assumed that the Leadership Program’s function is to perform training duties as part of the Human Resources Department. In fact, the Leadership Program is one of the two sustainability programs and as …
We are proud to introduce Ibrahim Sifuna, the Nuru Kenya Community Economic Development (CED) District Manager. With his extensive background in microfinance and community economic development, he has much to share with the Kuria West District and beyond. Below, find a CED success story told in Ibrahim’s words. Today I have the privilege of introducing to …
Some say, “a picture is worth 1,000 words.” At Nuru, I think that our data collection efforts are sometimes worth more than a million words. If an evaluation were only as easy as taking a picture of the situation before we start an intervention and then taking follow-up pictures along the way at periodic time …
Just a month away from concluding up my tenure with Nuru, there is much to reflect on. The memory bank of the last 4 years is chalk-full, and thinking back on each piece of the intricate puzzle evokes overwhelming fulfillment. We have experienced ups and downs, challenges and victories, and through it all we had …
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 …