In the 2015 long rains harvest season, Nuru Kenya piloted an approach of linking farmers to reliable markets where they can commercialize their crops. By aggregating and selling farmers’ surplus produce, Nuru Kenya helps farmers optimize their earning potential and make the most of their crop yields. Market linkage activities involve a number of steps …
Feature photo: A Nuru Kenya Healthcare Field Manager introduces himself to a Nuru farmer family during a home visit. As the Nuru Kenya Healthcare Training Manager, I was delighted to add seven new Healthcare Field Officers (FOs) to my team. After their successful recruitment, training and shadowing, it was time for the mapping process whereby FOs would locate …
As a woman journeying through various roles in different organizations, I have grappled with conflicting cultural expectations whenever I dared to seek challenging but fulfilling experiences. Fierce competition notwithstanding, gender intricacies further complicate women’s access to leadership opportunities—more so in the rural, remote communities in the developing world where leadership roles are deemed masculine. I …
After only two months on the job with Nuru in 2012, we were confronted with a teacher strike. At that time, I did not know a lot about the political dynamics surrounding the teachers’ strike, but I wasn’t expecting it to become a yearly occurrence. Once again, as has been the case for the past 4 …
Feature photo: Impact Program Manager Bennadette Mugita presenting on health communications during a Nuru Kenya team building exercise in Mombasa in May 2014. The last few years at Nuru Kenya have been years of tremendous growth. As the organization grew and evolved it became apparent that someone was needed to coordinate across impact programs to ensure …
In June 2015, Nuru hit a major milestone that was seven years in the making: Nuru International’s expat team exited Kenya, leaving behind a fully functioning and locally owned and managed organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty in Migori County and across Kenya. When the first expat team settled in Isibania in 2008, the goal was to …
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 …
Nuru works with farmers in groups. Mama Hellen was elected to lead her group, Isebania Umoja. To provide for her family all year round and educate her children, she relies on farming with Nuru Kenya’s Agriculture Program. Mama Hellen Boke Monanka is a hard working farmer in Kuria, southwest Kenya. At 43, she’s married and …
Feature photo: The Nuru Kenya District Scaling team pushes ahead into unknown territory. Nuru has always possessed a strong bias toward action. As a team, we’ve learned and improved our model by formulating creative solutions to myriad obstacles. So when the challenge of how to select a district for scaling arose, Nuru was up to …
Feature photo: NKSE poultry farm employees load eggs into a tuk-tuk to be delivered to local dukas (stores). June 2015 marked Nuru International’s achievement of its most exciting milestone to date—its expat exit of Nuru Kenya after seven rewarding, and of course, challenging years on the ground. For Nuru Kenya Social Enterprises (NKSE) in its …
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 …
As we, the local staff of Nuru Kenya, prepared for the departure of our expatriate team earlier this month, we worked hard to answer the many questions that go along with the uncertainty of exit. Over the last year, we have been working to develop elaborate strategic plans and roadmaps that will bring our vision …
The sun was setting as I stood by the grave marker of the final resting place of my friend, brother, and Nuru Kenya co-founder, Philip Mohochi. When I was here a year ago at his passing, I had been overwhelmed – even numbed by the throngs of people coming to pay their respects – all …
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 …