Feature photo: Women at a savings group meeting in Meteka Mele, Boreda District, Southern Ethiopia. For the last two or three decades, microfinance has been regarded as the panacea for poverty alleviation by donors and international development experts. There are concrete examples confirming that microfinance has uplifted thousands of people out of poverty, such as the families …
Feature photo: Nuru Ethiopia Education team at Program Proposal Graduation (left to right: Getachew Abebe, Teferi Womber, Kevin Nascimento, Wondemagegn Gezahegn, and Feven Yimer). We’ve done it! To the Nuru Ethiopia Education team, I can only say but one thing, gobez! – ‘good job!’ in Amharic! Completion of the Program Planning Process (PPP) marks a major milestone in …
A more appropriate name for this post would be something like: “11 Lessons from Living in Rural Southern Ethiopia for 2 years and Working with the Leadership Team to Build Local Leadership Capacity, Design our 4 Impact Programs (Agriculture, Financial Inclusion, Healthcare and Education) and Launch a Burgeoning Development Organization in a New Country.” However, …
Feature photo: Elias Fanta (middle) with Nuru Ethiopia Financial Inclusion team during the Financial Inclusion Program Planning Process in Zefine, Ethiopia. In June 2015, Nuru International achieved a significant milestone: the exit of expat staff from Kenya. Having served an expat rotation and as the only member of African descent on the U.S. international operations …
In 2015, the Nuru Ethiopia Agriculture Program is working with farmers for the production of maize, beans, wheat and teff. These cereal and pulse crops are the local staples for consumption, and also may be readily sold at market. Teff is a particularly critical crop for food security and income generation in Ethiopia, where it …
Nuru Ethiopia’s Cooperative and Agriculture Programs joined forces to host the first ever Cooperative Leader Summit in Arba Minch. Forty-five cooperative leaders from nine cooperatives gathered for the three-day summit. Topics for the summit included cooperative management, processes, market linkages, bookkeeping and financial record keeping. The summit concluded with an experience-sharing visit to the Ocholo …
The Leadership Program team is currently helping to facilitate the Program Planning Process (PPP) for both the Healthcare and Education teams to design their programs. This is the first time that Nuru has lead an integrated PPP for two programs at the same time and we are learning some valuable lessons for our holistic and …
The 2015 planting season activities are in full swing for both Nuru Ethiopia and Nuru Kenya!
The Nuru Ethiopia Leadership Program is using fun activities to guide the Healthcare, Financial Inclusion and Education Programs toward building cohesive teams and developing servant leadership and communication skills. We focused on five activities during the first quarter of 2015 to help staff experience the power of teamwork. 1. Engaging in Teamwork: Pictured below, the Education team worked with …
The Nuru Ethiopia Agriculture Team has been busy preparing to issue the first round of farm input loans for 2015. This is a year of huge growth for the Agriculture Program, where they are aiming to triple in operational area and number of farmers reached. Over the first three months of 2015, the team has …
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 …
What an amazing year. Looking back on everything that the team has worked through last year, we have had some incredible achievements. First of all, to speak broadly about the entire Nuru team, leadership development has been quickly on the rise. Having already created their programs and organizing the yearly rollout of activities, managers are …
Nuru Ethiopia’s Agricultural Team has been hard at work providing post-harvest handling trainings and building relationships with potential buyers for the maize harvest. Building the capacity of the cooperatives is an important step on the path to sustainability and the Nuru Ethiopia Agriculture staff have ensured cooperative leaders involvement in each step of the post-harvest …
Nuru Ethiopia held the Introduction to Nuru training during the Program Planning Process (PPP) for Healthcare and Education. 16 candidates were invited to join the training to learn about Nuru’s philosophy and principles. The candidates and current Nuru Ethioipia staff mutually learn about each other to determine if they are a good fit to work together. At the end, …
In this update, I introduce Nuru International’s Agriculture Program Specialist for Ethiopia, Mackenzie Knowling, . Before I do so, let’s review where we’ve come from and where we’re at currently. Nuru International started working in Kuria, Kenya in 2008. To further scale, develop and prove the Nuru Model in a context outside of Kenya, Nuru International …