Over the last three weeks, the team has been settling into a good work and life routine as we become a part of the community here in Zefine, the village we live in. It has been interesting integrating into the community. Ferenjis (foreigners) are very rare here in this part of the Gamo Highlands. When there is a random sighting of a ferenji, they are usually driving by quickly in a Land Rover using the alternative route to Soddo because the rain has washed out the main road in the lowlands. So you can imagine the surprise of the community members here (particularly the kids) when four ferenjis roll up, build a house, and start living in the community with them. I can assure you that it has caused quite a stir. Most of the kids have never actually seen a ferenji. This causes all kinds of interesting complications in logistics. Take the market for example. Zefine has a large, open-air market in the middle of the village every Tuesday and Saturday. The kids are very curious to get to know us. The first time Barry, Kristin, and Douglas went to the market, they had to leave only ten minutes after they arrived because literally hundreds of children began mobbing them trying to see who the new visitors were. The poor vendors almost got crushed as the human wave of children ebbed and flowed around the market as the three ferenjis tried to buy tomatoes, onions, and garlic to make dinner that night. Thankfully, the kids are starting to get more used to us now, and going to the market has become much less of a regional incident.

We try to get out and walk around the community and the surrounding area as much as we can. The landscape here is absolutely stunning – sharp mountain peaks, wide expansive valleys, and green rolling foothills make for exhilarating hikes on the weekends. The people here are so friendly and welcoming. The depth of poverty is heart-breaking, but the gracious thoughtfulness and generosity of the farmers as we move in the field is so inspiring. They are eager to make us feel at home here.

Our first big task as a team was to work with Bereket Akele (Nuru Ethiopia Country Program Director) to select the first cadre of leaders that we will train to lead Nuru Ethiopia. Bereket and I cast a wide net to try and identify the best possible leaders to begin the project with. Our goal was to begin training with 15 servant leaders on March 18th. Bereket screened over 200 applications and shortlisted 38 candidates. The rest of the team and I then helped Bereket conduct a final interview process to narrow the candidates to the final 15. The process included a panel interview, a written exam, and a basic computer skills test. The interviews lasted two days, and then we deliberated as a team on the third day to select the final 15 candidates to begin the training. The training began with these leaders on Monday, March 18th, and I can tell you that participating in that training with them has already been a very inspiring, motivational experience for me that has given me so much hope and confidence for the future of Nuru Ethiopia.

So, let me talk a little bit about this training. What are we trying to accomplish in the early days with these 15 leaders? This first phase of Nuru Ethiopia is a critical test of the Nuru Model. We are testing a new design approach to producing poverty-fighting solutions that we call the Program Planning Process (PPP). The PPP is a process of co-creation where we first work with leaders from the community to develop a common understanding of the needs of the community focusing in four key areas: hunger, inability to cope with economic shocks, unnecessary disease and death, and lack of quality education for children. We then work with them to design high impact solutions that are sustainable and scalable to address those needs. We do this by presenting a series of innovative solutions from around the world that are already being used to address that particular area of need in other places. The local leaders evaluate these idea based on a given set of criteria and they decide which solution (or composite solution) is most relevant for their environment and people.

This process will take approximately six months to complete the design of each of our four impact programs. Here in Ethiopia, we are starting with hunger. The process consists of a series of training modules and practical application exercises. Topics and activities covered in the training include defining extreme poverty and key needs that affect poverty, Strengths and Needs Assessment, developing a common understanding of Quality Solutions Criteria (impact, sustainability and scalability), analyzing and evaluating other models via site visits and examining best practices using tools that we call Research Packets, and building a strategic plan and proposal for a model to address the need of hunger in this area. In October, the 15 leaders will present a completed Agriculture model proposal to Bereket that will include a one-year strategic plan and budget and a detailed analysis of how the model will be sustainable and scalable as the program grows in the coming years.

I am already seeing seeds of ownership and nuanced understanding of the concepts we are training on to prepare these 15 leaders to build this first program. It is so inspiring for me to watch them become excited about the possibility that they can design a lasting solution to solve these complex problems in their communities themselves – a solution that will be far better than one imposed on them by outsiders who don’t truly understand the needs or potential of their communities.

Stay tuned…I’ll keep you posted as the model develops.

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As Nuru’s Director of International Operations, I first visited Ethiopia with Jake Harriman in October 2011. We conducted the first site evaluation to determine whether Ethiopia would be a good fit for Nuru’s second project. Prior to the visit, Jake and I had been discussing Nuru’s first expansion for nearly two years. In the past, we had researched other sites and conducted site visits to other countries (such as Malawi and Nicaragua), but had yet to find the right fit for Nuru in this first expansion.

Our ability to short-list and select countries for expansion is determined largely by our end goal of going where need is most urgent—which according to our belief is in post-conflict zones and states along a failed state spectrum. This urgency is checked by our ability to operate effectively in these areas and make impact.

Building a successful Nuru Project as we have in Kenya is very different than building a successful project in any one of our goal sites (e.g., Somalia, DRC, Mali, Yemen, Afghanistan, etc.). In addition to all of the ordinary challenges that come with expansion to a new country, there are additional factors that we must consider as we go to areas where the need is increasingly more urgent: security, infrastructure, climate, and poverty level—to name a few. Nuru Projects are not designed to be “cookie cutter” projects. Each project is adapted to the local environment as local staff develops each of the program models. Each community has different needs, which require different interventions. Some of these needs we are already prepared to address, while others will require us to develop solutions along the way. This gap is where we as an organization will continue to learn and adapt.

The final decision to expand to Ethiopia was made by Nuru’s Strategic Leadership Team in December 2011. Ethiopia is clearly not a failed state. It is also not a post-conflict country, as the war with Eritrea ended nearly 13 years ago. The country was not chosen for its lack of security, volatility, or lack of effective governance, but rather by three other major factors: the level of need; our ability to make impact with our existing model; and potential to be a building block for future projects.

The 2011 United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index (HDI) ranked Ethiopia 174^th out of 187 countries. Kenya ranked 143^rd. Ethiopia has a long, publicized history of severe issues with food insecurity and hunger. According to the Multidimensional Poverty Index, 39% of the population in Ethiopia lives extreme poverty. It is important that we continue to test and refine the Nuru Model in regions with greater and greater poverty. Ethiopia has need in all four core areas that we address: 1. Hunger; 2. Inability to cope with economic shocks; 3. Unnecessary disease and death; and 4. Lack of quality education for children. By adapting our programs to a new environment, we will continue distill the core of our model and work toward wider and wider application.

Nuru works in agrarian communities in remote, rural areas, and we were cautious to not expand to sites that would require complete changes to our model. The site for the Nuru Ethiopia project site, Boreda, was chosen for its similarities to our project in Kuria, Kenya. Boreda has a similar climate with similar rainy seasons. Maize is also one of the staple food and cash crops. Also, because Boreda has need in all four areas that we address (listed above), we can test our model in a new location using lessons learned from Kuria while addressing the challenges of a new environment with an increased poverty level.

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There is a strategic importance in this country choice as well. For our first expansion, it made sense to start regionally. The proximity to Kenya allows for easier international management that can be handled with less time and expense. Also, it means that we can more readily foster cross-project cooperation among our teams in Nuru Kenya and Nuru Ethiopia. By building regional presence in both countries, we can begin to plan and develop strategies to address some of the failed states and post-conflict areas in the region once we have the capabilities.

Ultimately, our expansion into areas where the need is most urgent will be slowed only by our ability to learn and adapt. Our existing skill set will need to continue to grow in new environments with more urgent needs. Even with the climate and crop similarities between Kenya and Ethiopia, there are great opportunities to gain new skill sets as we work with different populations and governments.

We have already built a solid core group of local staff who have started building Nuru Ethiopia. They will be partnering with Nuru International’s Scout Team to co-create the Nuru programs in Boreda. This is an exciting next phase. I look forward to continuing to learn from our teams in Nuru Kenya and Nuru Ethiopia so that we can continue to serve more and more people in need.

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With this success, the next problem we wanted to tackle is to prevent re-contamination of drinking water in our community. Community members usually store drinking water in re-purposed containers—perhaps with a piece of metal sitting on top as the lid or perhaps without any lid at all. Other community members use buckets they purchased from a nearby town, but these buckets are made from a low-quality plastic and the lids break easily. Without airtight storage, there are many different ways that the drinking water can become unsafe even if it came from a clean source. For instance, a curious child with dirty hands or a thirsty chicken who interacts with the water supply may unknowingly contaminate the water and transmit disease throughout the entire family. So, we found low-cost water storage containers with secure lids to sell in the community. We were able to purchase these containers in bulk through a supplier in Nairobi to sell at a reduced price while still covering our transport and overhead costs. These containers are not only low-cost and rugged, but are physically appealing as well. Physical appeal plays a large role in whether or not community members will purchase our products in order to improve their hygiene. Initial demand has been high and we’ve already sold 50 water storage containers in 3 weeks.

Also, we had the opportunity to work with another non-profit in our area, Kenya Relief, which runs an orphanage and school on their compound. During a chance conversation with one of their staff members, we learned that they were looking to construct latrines in order to open up their school in January. So, we were able to help them construct 16 latrines in time for a grand opening to 150 students in January. This is the same latrine design that our social marketing team has branded as NuChoo in our community because of its durability and low-cost.

Now the students at Kenya Relief can focus on their studies. Of course, a little nap time is needed from all the strenuous learning as well.

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That’s the question we always need to be asking over here. Are we on the Foundation Team driving all things? Are we moving things in our own way, in our own direction? Or are we collaborating closely with our Kenyan colleagues – those for whom this project is also their life, and their community’s hope?

With that question in mind, we have taken another step to bring our own work more in line with that of our colleagues. Instead of keeping standing meetings among Foundation Team members for our weekly planning and key decision making discussions, we have moved to combine our meetings with those of our key counterparts – the District Managers (DM) of each department. We’re asking the DM to take the lead in reporting on key accomplishments and challenges in their own programs, and we’re taking steps to make sure the DM take part in all big decisions. They’re now conducting their own strategy sessions parallel to ours, and each side is reporting back to the other.

The goal, of course, is to manage more closely each passing month – ensuring that ‘we are together’ in all key decisions; we want nothing imposed, and nothing decided, without clear consultation and understanding. For if we’re not partners in this, if we’re not together in key decisions, our handoff to complete Kenyan management won’t be effective or complete.

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Organizational Sustainability

One of the things that impressed me most about Nuru’s growth this past year is the organization’s growing independence from me and my personality. Founder’s syndrome is a disease that kills many promising new companies before they can reach a catalytic growth phase, and we never want to fall into this trap. I am so humbled by the people and systems that we as a team have put in place to become a more sustainable organization.

Our amazing HR team, led by Karina Sobieski, made several key hires this past year that have enabled us to significantly grow our leadership bench strength. Nisha Chakravarty (Wharton, Columbia, Time Warner, Goldman Sachs, and former CFO at KIPP Schools LA) joined the team in September as Nuru’s new CFO. Nisha is already adding rigor and depth to Nuru’s financial systems and finance strategy. She is re-tooling the Nuru financial model to drive profitability through the Income Generating Activity (IGA) Program more efficiently. Scott Rumpsa (built a successful social enterprise, Aqua Clara International, in Kenya from scratch) joined the team in May to take over all Nuru operations in Kenya. I can honestly say that Scott is now running Nuru Kenya more effectively and efficiently than I could at this point. He has greatly enabled me to focus on higher level strategic issues and milestones for Nuru’s growth as we move toward proof of concept. Barry Mattson (US Air Force Academy, Wharton, Tufts) joined the team in October as a Team Leader Candidate. Barry will work with me to build the Ethiopia project for six months in Boreda before he completely takes over Nuru Ethiopia in September. Scott and Barry have added significant depth to Nuru’s country leadership teams.

Charles Molloy, Nuru’s Chief Development Officer, stepped fully into his role this past year and worked with his team to begin creating a successful diversification, awareness and long-term funding strategy for Nuru that will allow us to plan much further in advance as we move toward proof of concept. Some of his team’s wins in 2012 included multiple year funding commitments at greater levels from Nuru’s top investors, a Nuru op-ed featured in the NY Times, membership in the Combined Federal Campaign, Nuru being picked up by the Lavin Agency as a speaker resource, new partnership with a group of web developers that has resulted in $125,000 and a feature on Google for Nonprofits homepage.

Part of growing up as an organization includes having objective observers “kick the tires” and take a deeper look at the Nuru Model to identify weak areas. We are committed to accountability and transparency, and we know that the only way we will achieve our goal is if we undergo a high level of scrutiny that can push us to become better. In 2012, we had objective, third party investors take a close look at the Nuru Model. Bill Cotter and the Robertson Foundation conducted a site visit and significant due diligence as part of a larger funding ask from the foundation over the next three years. Dalberg Strategic Advisory Firm conducted a robust, high level strategic review of the Nuru Model and organization as commissioned by Nuru investors, Bob and Dottie King.

Model Sustainability

2012 saw significant increases in our capacity for the model to become self-sustaining. We believe that capacity building in our leadership and business models is the key to long-term sustainability as we work to enable communities to make meaningful choices to free themselves from poverty.

This past year, we invested heavily in revamping the Income Generating Activities (IGA) Program strategy in Kenya. We brought on a full-time program manger for the IGA Program to focus on identifying the most promising gaps in the market and rebuilding the IGA financial model. In addition, we hired two post-graduate interns and three Kenyan research assistants to assist in the development of the IGA business models. Nisha will be using these business models to build the five-year financial model for Nuru Kenya in the first quarter of 2013.

In addition, we made significant progress in the development of our Leadership Program. The philosophy, process and curricula were refined to better equip the leaders of Nuru Kenya, and the details of the co-creation process were completed to begin building solutions for Nuru Ethiopia in 2013. We also finished defining a series of program metrics to effectively measure the impact that the Leadership Program is having on our staff in Nuru Kenya.

Model Impact

In 2012, our Senior Program Managers and the Monitoring and Evaluation Team (M&E) worked together to make significant headway in refining the Nuru Model to drive a much higher level of efficacy. The M&E Team hired Heather Ozhogin as the team Data Scientist to enable us to more effectively collect and analyze data that we are gathering in the field. Thanks to the hard work of the M&E Team, we were able to produce statistically significant data that proves the impact of the Nuru Agriculture Program. The data collected showed a 123% increase of crop yields for Nuru farmers above a baseline for the long rains season of 2012. Plans and processes have been put in place to produce similar data for the other three impact programs by the end of 2013.

We made exciting progress in the models of our four impact programs. The Agriculture Program was able to increase Ag loan repayment rate from 79% in 2011 to 96% in 2012. The Community Economic Development Program was able to produce a 100% loan repayment rate on over $32,000 in micro-loans issued to Nuru farmers in 2012. We made the Nuru Model more efficient by merging the Water and Sanitation Program into the Healthcare Program to eliminate redundancies in targeted behavior change. The Social Marketing component of the Healthcare model launched with a successful first campaign called “Nuchoo” – successfully marketing pit latrines to Nuru farmers and other community members in Kuria West. The Education Program reached 3,806 students across 9 primary schools with its Outreach Program in an attempt to increase literacy levels among primary school-aged children to Standard 2 reading level.

Proof of Concept

At Nuru, we are pushing hard toward proof of concept of the model. While we believe that proof of concept is still three years away, in 2012, we saw significant gains toward reaching this goal.

Part of proving that the Nuru Model works is actually leaving. We have to exit Kenya successfully. In order to do that, we need to have clearly defined exit criteria enabling us to know when we have achieved success – criteria showing that we have created a completely self-sustaining entity that is improving the lives of families in the project area. In 2012, the M&E Team was able to refine what those exit criteria look like so that we can now clearly describe what the successful end state looks like for Nuru Kenya that will facilitate exit.

Another pillar of proof of concept is successfully implementing the Nuru Model in a second country to show that the Nuru Model is not just a Kenya success phenomenon. In 2012, we were able to overcome significant obstacles to establish Nuru Ethiopia, a registered, international NGO in Ethiopia. We conducted a rigorous situational analysis, hired a senior Ethiopian management team, established an administrative and logistics infrastructure for the project and began construction of the Foundation Team compound there. Nuru Ethiopia program training will commence in March with the insertion of the Scout Team.

I am so excited and blown away by the progress we made as a team this past year. None of this would have been possible without you – our selfless, passionate supporters who are so committed to giving sustainable hope and a voice to those trapped in extreme poverty. Thank you for making 2012 a year of significant growth and advancement toward sustainable change in the global fight against extreme poverty. I look forward now to fighting next to you as we step into this new year together.

Stay in the fight,

Jake

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I’m very excited about the launch of our new country project in Ethiopia. I just spent the last three months in Arba Minch, Ethiopia laying the foundation for the project – developing required administrative infrastructure, building a solid logistics and support base, conducting early M&E data collection via a situational analysis, and identifying and working with early potential leaders to lead Nuru Ethiopia.

In recent conversations, a few folks have questioned the timing of launching the Nuru Ethiopia project, asking me: Why open an Ethiopia project now? Why not wait until you exit the Kenya project before expanding to another country?

Several of our investors and partners also asked me these insightful questions at various points in the Ethiopia planning and launch process. Opening a new project is risky and requires additional resources – of both people and funding. Some investors worried that an Ethiopia project would pull much needed resources away from the Kenya project during a crucial phase of its development. In writing this post, I hope to quell concerns by explaining why opening a Nuru project in Ethiopia now is an important step in achieving Nuru’s long-term vision.

Presently, there are two strategic reasons for why we would open a new country project:

1. We are scaling/growing/expanding the Nuru Model (scaling a proven entity)
2. We are completing a critical piece of proving the model itself prior to scale-up of the model 

If we were basing our decision on strategic reason #1, then our decision to open a new project in Ethiopia now cannot be justified. The Nuru Model is not fully proven: the Income Generating Activities Program isn’t producing enough capital to make the Kenya project financially sustainable yet; local leaders are still being mentored on how to solve problems and design scalable solutions on their own; and of course, our international staff has not successfully exited Kenya.

Instead, our decision is based on strategic reason #2. Opening a new project in Ethiopia is a critical to proving the Nuru Model works; and it must be conducted concurrently with these three benchmarks to fully achieve proof of concept:

Benchmarks to Achieve Proof of Concept:

1. Local staff must lead and manage the expansion of Nuru Kenya into a neighboring district using capital generated by Nuru Kenya.
2. International staff and funding must successfully exit the Kenya project – leaving behind a completely self-sustaining entity that continues to effectively scale proven impact on its own.
3. International staff must launch a new project to serve as a point of comparison to ensure that the success we have experienced is not just a Nuru Kenya phenomenon. 

We have seen some big wins in the Kenya project that we are very excited about, but the Nuru Model is designed to be a global model. We have a vision to reach extremely poor people living in countries demonstrating a widely diverse set of national economies, political structures, levels of stability, climates, cultures, and available resources. Rather than design a model to completion that can only work in countries very similar to Kenya, we are introducing our model in a completely new context to prove the model will work in widely diverse environments.

But why now? Launching now will make it easier to incorporate the lessons learned in Ethiopia to our work in Kenya – while our model is still malleable. Changes are hard to implement. Repeated changes over time erode the trust local leaders have in us – and that trust is our social capital. If we exited Kenya and then tried to go back and implement important, fundamental changes to the model based on our experiences in a new country, those changes would be very costly, and we would risk losing the leaders of Nuru Kenya – who are the foundation of our success and work.

Additionally, there are aspects of the Nuru Model that cannot be tested in Nuru Kenya because of the advanced stage of the project. The most important aspect that must be tested elsewhere is the Leadership Program, which focuses on restoring agency to local leaders by having them co-create solutions side-by-side with the community and our international staff. Many of the solutions we use to address the needs of the community were already designed by the time we formally launched the Leadership Program in March 2011; this is why we must test the Nuru Model in a completely new environment.

Finally, it is important for an organization to maintain a culture of innovation. We must be willing to push the model – to ensure our success will last. Ground-breaking change requires taking risks; and we must be willing to take these risks to realize our bold vision for all people living in extreme poverty to have the opportunity make meaningful choices to improve their lives in a sustainable way.

Thank you for staying up-to-date with our progress in our fight to end extreme poverty. I look forward to giving you another update in April 2013.

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Although David manages the group there, each team member has bought into the goal of becoming a world-class design firm and takes ownership of Proximity. By following the simple idea of improving something small each day, the team at Proximity has transformed both their workspace and products. In one example, their commitment to bring the best products to their customers pushed the team to develop plastic pumps for their customers. In thinking beyond the metal-based pump that Proximity had been selling, they were able to significantly bring down the price point of their product so that more farmers would be able to increase their incomes. It was great to see how the “improving something small each day” philosophy is actually implemented by Proximity. As I referenced earlier, the team has all bought into the goal of becoming a world-class design firm, and David has noted that that was key in building the culture at Proximity. However, David has also made the philosophy very tangible for his staff. Once a month, the staff stops work on products and just goes around the factory to improve something. It could be as simple as streamlining how the tools are organized in a certain workspace, or adding pictures to a construction guideline.

Then, the staff gets together and votes to see who has come up with the best improvement for the team. These very simple, yet concrete, actions have formed a culture in which the whole team pursues excellence.

I was also able to see how Proximity ensures the quality of the products coming from its production line.  As I discussed with Todd Murphy, who is in charge of their production, a lot of the policies and procedures that they instituted might seem basic and obvious, but that’s what allows Proximity to ensure that they are delivering quality products. For example, Proximity physically separates the area where they receives parts (such as injection moldings and welded parts that have been outsourced) in order to inspect each part according to a guideline that is in a logbook for the person receiving to check. That way, they ensure that the production line only receives parts that have passed inspection. Once again, it’s a very simple and logical process to have, but it was helpful to see how Proximity has thought through each of these processes and implemented them. We learned a lot from how Proximity has been running their operations and as we continue to scale up ours so we’ll be keeping in touch to continue to learn from them. We’re also excited to see how the team at Proximity Designs will continue to grow and innovate in order to serve the people of Myanmar.

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Product Design: We’ve decided to focus our skills in finding and selecting products that have proven impact. There are many great ideas and products out there, and we decided that our team would create the most value and impact for our communities by partnering with the organizations and people who are already developing those products. Through our partnerships, our R&D team can provide them with meaningful feedback in order to continue improving the product and to ensure that their product is relevant and effective in the communities that we work with.

Our first step in this process is to develop the criteria by which we select projects which will impact our community. We ask if the product has demonstrated impact, if there is a viable plan to sustain the product, and if the product can be scaled easily. These were difficult questions, and our team spent a lot of time (and a lot of butcher paper) trying to answer them clearly and comprehensively. This involved interviewing the Non-governmental organizations who were developing the product in order to learn more about their implementation strategy and challenges they faced. However, this also involved asking questions of ourselves and our communities. Would this project be culturally appropriate in our communities? Can we expect the same level of impact shown in the research for our communities? Does Nuru Kenya have the capabilities to maintain and support the product in the community? We’re still improving our method of selecting products, but we’ve had great conversations that have allowed us to understand our goal more deeply.

Production: So far, we’ve built two more latrines for customers since the launch of the social marketing campaign and have continued producing and selling handwashing stations. We’ve also been working on setting up systems to monitor the efficiency of our production methods. For now, we’ve been keeping tracking of all the costs associated with constructing a latrine (labor time, transport, materials cost) as they tend to fluctuate. We might strike a better deal with a motorcycle driver one day and save on transport costs. Or, we may notice that as we build more latrines, the construction time actually decreases since we become more adept. With these historical records, we’ll know which process of production we should focus on in order to make significant cost reductions in the future.

Logistics: In addition to streamlining our logistics for latrines, we’ve been researching other organizations which excel at rural distribution. The reach of HUL’s Project Shakti and ITC in rural India provide great examples of organizations that adapt to the unique and difficult challenges that operating in a rural environment presents. With roads that are in disrepair and a geographically dispersed population, it is extremely difficult to plan  and execute an efficient distribution plan. However, it was encouraging to see that many of the successful strategies used by HUL and ITC reflect values that guide Nuru’s own philosophy on ending extreme poverty. These organizations, and Nuru, engage and empower the communities that they work with, leveraging strengths already found in the community to create sustainable solutions that can reach millions.

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To successfully manage our team’s growth and that of our program, we are adding two senior level positions to our Kenyan team – a District Manager and a Training Manager. The District Manager will be responsible for strategy development, team management, maintaining relationships with the Ministry of Education and partners, coordinating and implementing scaling plans and managing the team’s budget. The District Manager will also liaise with our Monitoring and Evaluation team to track impact metrics. The Training Manager will research and develop our curriculum guide, drawing from lessons learned in the field and best practices demonstrated globally. She or he will train our education staff on literacy development best practices and create training materials to promote constant learning. The Training Manager will also shadow outreach and respond to needs through high impact training and materials.

Our Kenyan team has completed the interview process for the District Manager role and we are thrilled that Julius Ngombo has accepted our offer and will be joining our team in January. Julius comes to us with significant experience in literacy development and management. He received his Masters in Sustainable International Development at Brandeis University as a Ford Foundation Fellow. Since then, he has worked as a Community Development Facilitator with the Aga Khan Foundation along the Kenyan coast. Julius has also served as a college lecturer, a Senior Supervisor for the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, the Head Teacher of several primary schools throughout Kenya as well as a Community Development Project Manager. With over 25 years of experience, we are fortunate to have him join our team and look forward to partnering with him to further our team’s goals.

We are in the final phase of the Training Manager interviews and are eager to round out our team with this hire. The interview process has been a great learning opportunity for our team in Kenya. They have seen candidates with a wide array of experiences, backgrounds and leadership styles. We are grateful for all the talented applicants who have expressed interest in joining our team. This step in our team’s development will increase our capacity and help us strengthen our program offerings, our team and our ability to positively impact literacy levels throughout Kenya.

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A big part of what we’re working on here is staying ‘scrappy’ while growing in size.  We aspire to continually find ways to reduce expenses while maximizing impact. Additionally, we’re focused on increasing the amount of revenue we generate from our Income Generating Activities (IGA) program, so that Nuru can sustainably operate after the exit of US funding.

We now have over 180 staff partners working in throughout our communities of service. As our geographic reach has grown, so too have our staff training costs. We believe in investing heavily in our local staff capacity (see our Leadership program for more details on this), which means staff members attending regular trainings and professional development sessions. With our growing staff, the cost of transporting so many staff has increased dramatically.

So, Chairman Philip Mohochi and the rest of the executive team constructed a hostel, designed to significantly reduce the cost of these trainings. Staff members are able to stay over night during multi-day training sessions, saving us a bundle on transport costs. Additionally, the vision is to begin using the hostel as a revenue generating activity – whenever not in use hosting our own staff for trainings, we will be renting rooms to travelers, outside seminars and events, etc. Chairman has a great vision for this, and has already reached out to several of the hotels in town, getting advice while benchmarking our prices against theirs.

While not yet completely finished, the hostel will soon be online, reducing our expenses while increasing our income. Exactly what we hope to do for long-run sustainability.

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