Nuru International is a social venture committed to ending extreme poverty in remote, rural areas.

The Leadership Program aggressively scaled its work in Kuria, Kenya in 2011. We hired and trained six new facilitators using a “training of trainers” curriculum that was completely written and delivered by our local training team. This growth in our training staff enabled us to increase the number of trainings we deliver each week and expand our services to all levels of management within our Kuria project (approximately 120 people). Furthermore, we delivered additional trainings continuously throughout the year, even as senior training staff took time to write and pilot new curriculum for future training series. Meanwhile in the States, the Leadership Program developed a detailed start-up process of collaboration and co-design for local leaders in a new project. This work is in preparation for Nuru’s expansion to Ethiopia in 2012.

The Agriculture Program grew immensely from 975 farmers taking loans during the 2011 long rains season to 2,783 farmers recruited for loans in 2012. Nuru farmers increased their maize yields significantly with the provision of farm input loans, extension services, and training by the Agriculture Program. To encourage loan repayment, which cumulatively reached 75.7% by year’s end, the Agriculture Program adopted continuous loan repayment, one loan season per year, and closer relationships with Kenya government officials. The Agribusiness Program, with aims of funding Nuru Kenya and benefiting farmers with market access, purchased and resold 279 metric tons of maize valued at $86,000. Agribusiness successfully executed a USAID / Market Linkages Initiative grant to construct and supply five additional village buying stations.

The CED Program has grown in its capacity to train and provide financial services to farmers in extreme poverty. By the close of 2011, 1,534 savings club members were provided access to financial training, savings, and credit. The CED Program reached just under its goal of enrolling half of all Nuru’s farmers- reaching 49.3%. With nearly $16,000 in total group savings, 423 loans issued at combined value of over $45,000, and a repayment rate of 99.86%, the CED Program’s portfolio has nearly quadrupled in size while retaining the high quality of its services. This coming year will be a further test for the program as it reaches its next phase of growth and focus. The program will continue to refine its model and maximize its impact as it scales to new areas in conjunction with the Agriculture Program to reach 60% of Nuru’s farmers.

Nuru hosted a nationwide Low Cost Sanitation Workshop taught by the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST). All 21 members of the Water & Sanitation staff (including 7 women) learned the skills and tools to construct a low cost, safe, long-lasting latrine product that can be purchased by families in incremental steps as funds become available (i.e. buy the foundational lining and slab with profits from this harvest; buy the walls and roof with the profits from next harvest). The price point for complete model is $180; basic models priced at $50. Seven demonstration projects were built at Nuru maize buying stations to generate demand for Nuru latrine construction. Also, our team sold 100 handwashing stations and 80 safe water storage containers. Lastly, we oversaw the drilling of a deep well in Hekima that will serve 300-500 villagers. Hekima, an impoverished community, raised 80,000Ksh (approximately $1,000) in 20Ksh and 30Ksh increments from community members to pay for the hydrology report and permitting process. The community also sourced their own hydrologist and drilling subcontractor.

2011 was a year of R&D for the Healthcare Program. In order to adequately set the stage for an action-filled year of progress in 2012, our focus was on increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of our Home Visit Strategy. To do so, we researched and prepared to create a participatory, behavior change focused base curriculum using the Rainer Arnhold Fellows design iteration flow (DIF) format. The DIF will gauge the program model’s ability to have impact and scale in a sustainable manner. We also engaged in an externship with Living Goods to gain a detailed understanding of operational elements that will lead us to improving healthcare in Kuria and beyond. We worked with the Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Team to develop our indicators of program success, household survey, and evaluation plan. We also launched the precursor to 2012’s Social Marketing Strategy with a distribution of the Healthy Behavior Calendar and helped to support the Kenyan Ministry of Health’s Malezi Bora maternal and child health campaigns. We trained Community Healthcare Workers (CHWs), village elders, Nuru farmer families, and several schools on topics such as malaria, diarrhea, pneumonia, immunization, newborn health and safe motherhood. To wrap up the year, we made a significant decision to tighten our CHW model framework, shifting from a large number of volunteer, part-time CHWs to a smaller yet quality-focused, full-time team of Nuru Field Officers.

In 2011, Nuru’s Education Program focused on testing and implementing our outreach model. The team partnered with local public primary schools to establish a rotating schedule for Nuru outreach initiatives. After gaining approval and support from the Kenyan Ministry of Education, all schools and the community, Nuru implemented the outreach program in nine public primary schools. During outreach, Nuru facilitators conducted hour-long literacy intensive sessions with classes Standard 1–7, filling lulls in the school day. The team tested the Learning Center concept, offering drop-in programs focused on literacy development during school breaks to a daily average of 400 kids. The team also conducted the Uwezo literacy assessment and completed the literacy baseline in partnership with Nuru’s M&E Team. The Education Team continues to iterate on the model and is currently focused primarily on enhancing the literacy curriculum, increasing saturation of the program and preparing to scale to new sub-locations.