PRIMARY SCHOOL ENROLLMENTS

We target rural regions where school enrollment is low and then identify out-of-school children, sensitize their parents to the value of education, and make it easier for them to enroll their children in school. We do this work through an intern program which also creates opportunity for local young women. Our Team Angaza interns have enrolled nearly 2000 children into classrooms since schools reopened from COVID-closures in 2021. An independent audit showed retention of the first 1000 children was over 75%, a very high rate for this region, and we are currently tracking the next 1000 that were enrolled.

OPENING AFFORDABLE DAY SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Research shows the greatest predictor of whether a girl will attend secondary school is a nearby affordable school. But in many rural areas such as the Loita Hills where we work, they simply don’t exist: there may not be a school within tens of miles of terrain, leaving few options for children to transition on to secondary school. We identify key central primary schools that can be expanded into secondary schools to increase access to education. As of September, 2024, we have started seven new day secondary schools in partnerships with remote communities across the Loita and Naikarra regions.

SUPPORTING SCHOOLS WITH CRITICAL LEARNING RESOURCES

Schools in the rural region we work have very few resources; historically teachers have only a handful of tattered textbooks for support. We support them with critical items like solar panels and Rachels - Remote Area Community Hotspots for Education and Learning: Portable, battery-powered devices that contain hundreds of free lessons from educational websites in offline format that they can wirelessly transfer to nearby tablets, laptops, in regions where little internet exists.

ACTIVATING LOCAL LEADERSHIP

Parents are more likely to send their children in school if people they respect support education. We work with local political, cultural and religious leaders to explore the connections between education and culture so they may use their influence to encourage parents to send all their children, including their girls, to school. We then support them once they’re there through enhanced classroom resources, mentors and encouraging the hiring of female teachers.

GRANT SUPPORT FOR NEW SECONDARY SCHOOLS

New secondary schools in Kenya experience significant economic vulnerabilities in their first years of operations. The Kenyan Government only kicks in major support once they are built out and officially registered. Our grant program supports our partner secondary schools with a funding grant to cover teachers’ salaries during their first year of operation and additional second-year grants, if needed, to ensure their sustainability.

PADS AND REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH (SHRH) EDUCATION

Ten years ago, we started our work by addressing the barrier to school attendance created by lack of sanitary pads and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SHRH) education. We paused this work for several years after we relocated our work to remote regions where lack of school infrastructure and gendered norms of early marriage created even larger barriers. Now that we’ve made significant progress in increasing girls’ school enrollments and attendance and partnered with communities to start five day secondary schools in these regions, we’ve reintroduced our pad and SHRH education program. This work is carried out by our Team Angaza interns as they engage in their outreach work to families.

COMMUNITY TREE PLANTING