What Does Nuru Do?
Nuru International's mission is to end extreme poverty in remote, rural areas. To accomplish this, we equip people with tools and knowledge to lift themselves out of extreme poverty - forever.
How Is Nuru International Different?
Service Leadership
Nuru identifies, screens and mentors respected community members in the principles of service leadership (humility, growth focus, leading by example, feedback-driven development). After a six-month training period, Nuru hires on the best candidates to mobilize the community into work groups. Our community mobilization model is an effective platform to introduce innovative solutions that address the community's needs. Nuru's Western staff remains behind the scenes, coaching leaders from the community and supplying them with the expertise they need to implement all aspects of Nuru's model.
General Contractor of Best Ideas
Nuru’s team studies both the social and private sectors to identify the most effective methods of fighting extreme poverty in our five program areas (Agriculture, Community Economic Development, Water & Sanitation, Healthcare, and Education). Top organizations (such as One Acre Fund, Mifos, Center for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology [CAWST], Living Goods, PSI Kenya, and Uwezo) specializing in effective interventions are invited to join Nuru in addressing the needs of our communities. Nuru coordinates these organizations simultaneously as a sort of “general contractor” and effectively delivers interventions in the community by leveraging our service leadership network. This partnership maximizes both Nuru’s and other organizations’ effectiveness and efficiency.
Measurement and Evaluation
Our monitoring & evaluation (M&E) team ensures accountability by evaluating poverty metrics and rigorously monitoring program impact. Nuru worked with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) as the first organization in Africa to pilot the Multidimensional Poverty Assessment Tool (MPAT). This tool uses surveys to establish a baseline assessment to expose of the existence or lack of an enabling environment for community members to overcome extreme poverty. We are dedicated to effectiveness, transparency and iteration in our methodology and impact.
Sustainability and Scalability
Nuru focuses on financial and leadership sustainability to simultaneously enable the exit of Western funding and staff while continue scaling Nuru’s programs to neighboring districts. Nuru integrates revenue generation in its model through an income-generating activities (IGA) group that creates businesses to serve local demand. Income generated by these models is channeled into a village bank which eventually enables Nuru’s project to achieve financial self-sustainability. In addition, Nuru’s service leadership network continues to scale our programs to neighboring districts, eventually achieving national impact.
Where Does Nuru Work?
Location: Kuria District, Kenya
Scope: 2,006 families in 23 villages impacting over 10,000 people
Community Penetration: 75%
Start Date: September, 2008
Located in the southwest of the country, Kuria is one of the poorest districts in all of Kenya.
Kuria Before Nuru
Before Nuru arrived, local farmers had very low maize (corn) yields resulting in a hunger season between harvests. There were very few clean water sources and waterborne disease was rampant. The health facilities were desperately lacking resources, and malaria, diarrhea and upper-respiratory tract infections plagued the local population. School drop out rates were high, especially for girls, and few parents could afford to send their children to secondary school. There was no bank in the community, no business training, and no access to capital for investment.
When Nuru Arrived in Kuria...
When Nuru arrived we met with local officials and village elders, listened to their needs and ideas for solutions. Next we hit the streets (or dirt roads) visiting farmers in their fields, mud-walled homes, and at water collection points to gather vital information needed to establish a baseline for our measurement and evaluation system. When we held our group formation meeting 450 farmers showed up to join Nuru (we had expected 150). These farmers were put into groups, trained in effective farming techniques, and provided a loan of maize seed and fertilizer. Nuru Groups planted, weeded, and harvested their crops together, and the average maize yield increased by 300%. Farmers repaid their loans, kept enough maize to feed their families, and sold the rest at a profit. Nuru trained the community in financial planning, taught life saving sanitation and healthcare techniques, and provided teacher training for area teachers.
Kuria Project Highlights
2,006 farmers and their families are in Nuru's programs
Average of 5 members per family, totaling impact at 10,030
40 tons of maize seed and 400 tons of fertilizer loaned or sold
Average 250% increase in maize yields
Taught financial planning to over 800 families
138 farmer savings clubs
Use product loans like plow oxen to meet the needs of remote rural farmer
95% loan repayment rate
18 field officers and 3 managers trained on sanitation and low cost latrine construction
Developed low cost, long-lasting latrine product that can be purchased in incremental steps as funds become available
7 demonstration projects built at Nuru maize buying stations (VACs)
100 handwashing stations sold
50 safe water storage containers sold
36 active Community Health Workers (CHWs) training 1,000 households on disease prevention
Using Tailored Interpersonal Communication to promote healthy behaviors to nearly 6,000 individuals
Developed a referral system for treatment at the local, newly-renovated clinic
Sales of health commodities: LLITNs, WaterGuard, Soap, and Moringa Leaf
Launched outreach programs to 6 public primary schools in 2 sub-locations catering to over 2,700 students
Scaling outreach to 5 more public primary schools in 2 sub-locations with more than 4,600 students
Establishing literacy baseline among 6 initial public schools using Uwezo literacy tool
Constructed learning center which is now delivering free literacy programs to approximately 350 youth per day