AKILI DADA
ANNUAL REPORT
2015
Contents Foreword
01
2015 Year In Review
02
Our Vision
03
Our Story
04
Our model
05
Our Work
06
The Young Changemakers Program
07
The Gap Year Program
08
Innovation In Leadership Program
13
Organizational health
17
Funders spotlight
18
Gratitude
19
How to get involved
20
Dear Akili Dada Community, 2015 said to us ‘this is what it looks like when women lead; they go against the grain, they experiment and bring new thinking in the spaces they are in’. 2015 called us to go beyond our ‘traditional’ reach, stretched us and challenged us to work more with out of school young women from underprivileged backgrounds. We launched Dada Dialogues as a direct response to the need for safe spaces for young women to deliberate and engage each other and other stakeholders on the issues that affect our communities. We hosted the Washa Social Impact Summit, the 1st of its kind in East Africa- a space designed to explore the role of young people in the social entrepreneurship sector across Kenya and Africa.
Message from Executive Director
We expanded our high school program to include girls from marginalized communities in not necessarily our traditional national schools. We are constantly inspired by the change and transformation we see in these girls even after such a short time and are committed to continue programming and innovating to meet their needs. Our fellowship program and the East African Girls Summit gave us a truly regional status as an organization with fellows and girls from Rwanda, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. We continue to see our Dadas grow and come into their own while activating their agency in their communities. From Cynthia a scholarship program alumna whose mission is to help young people realize and appreciate the power of education, to innovators like Blandine from Rwanda who is using technology to transform the lives of mothers across her country we are humbled to see these girls and young women positioning themselves to actively participate in key decision making spaces in their communities and across sectors. As we look ahead to celebrating our 10th year in 2016, we are optimistic that as an organization, we are running a good race. We are striving to ensure that more girls and young women have access to quality education, are leading in social entrepreneurship and are finding spaces to activate and exercise their leadership, whatever that may mean to them. We are proud of all the Dadas who have set such high bars for others to match or surpass. We are proud to have you as a believer, partner and supporter of our work. We thank you. Sincerely, Purity Kagwiria AKILI DADA ANNUAL REPORT 2015
01
Akili Dada 2015 Celebrating Kenyan women trailblaizers
Mentoring through sports at the Dagoretti Rehabilitation center
YouthNow creating youth agency in civic engagement
Design thinking and transformative leadership at May Leadership Academy
Launched mentoring sessions outside of Nairobi County
March
AKILI DADA ANNUAL REPORT 2015
May
02
Launched #MaktabaAgenda, a library initiative by 2015 Gap Year Interns
June
Akili Dada scholar Mary at DAA Stem Academy
August
Launched Political Aspirants training
Akili Dada scholar Helen at the East African Girls Summit
November
Dada Dialogues session at Kawangware in Nairobi
December
OUR VISION “We envision a world in which African women leaders are actively participating in key decision-making processes across sectors.”
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Akili Dada’s mission is to nurture a generation of young African women from under-resourced backgrounds whose commitment to social change is transforming their communities. Our leadership development model establishes the foundation for young women, 13-35, to hone their skills and be equipped to access key decision-making spaces and leadership positions. By selecting and in investing in some of Africa’s most innovative young women changemakers, we are confronting the urgent need for more African women as transformative leaders across the continent.
We employ four key strategies: direct financial investment, leadership development, skills building and mentorship, in cultivating a sisterhood of creative, accountable, articulate, critical thinkers. We recognize that developing leaders requires these multiple inputs of support and intentionally invest in these young women changemakers who are dedicated to impacting the world around them.
** The strong roots of the baobab tree represent the Akili Dada sisterhood while the branches represent our scholars, Fellows and many alumnae who blossom with Akili Dada’s support.
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Akili Dada’s Theory of Change Today, African women from underprivileged backgrounds are vastly underrepresented in decision-making roles and processes across the continent. This absence is directly correlated with women’s lack of access to quality education, relevant networks, skills, financial resources and basic human rights.
Strategies
FINANCIAL INVESTMENT
SKILLS TRAINING
LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT Girls and young women
Girls and young women have:
• Opportunity to focus their entire energies on implementing their initiatives. • Increased access to funding opportunities. • Increased opportunities to lead and Implement social change projects. • Increased access to networks • Access quality education. • Opportunities to scale projects to sustainability.
• Develop self efficacy through meeting and overcoming challenges • Develop heightened social and emotional intelligence • Build leadership skills grounded in service to others • Demystify the theory and practice of leadership • Innovate solutions to challenges in their communities • Are equipped to run their initiatives efficiently • Realize their agency
MENTORSHIP
Girls and young women
• Are equipped with relevant 21st century skills • Are equipped with life-skills • Build hard and soft skills to better • Manage their initiatives • Are equipped with job preparedness skills, increase and measure the impact of their social change projects
African women:
• Develop intergenerational learnings and relationships • Build sisterhood and communities of support • Pay it forward through peer mentorship
Outcomes Increased percentage of high achieving girls from disadvantaged backgrounds access quality education
Girls and young women challenge the status quo
Girls and young women are catalysts of positive change in their communities
Girls and young women practice collaborative leadership and invest in one another
Girls and young women shifting the narratives to one in which African women are emboldened and support each other
Results Young women leaders have a competitive edge to access the job market and leadership positions
Improved standard of living at the household and community level
Girls and young women practice empathy in their leadership
Girls and young women engage in a global sisterhood
Girls and young women have the skills necessary to lead effectively
Girls and young women foster innovation across sectors
Impact
AFRICAN
WOMEN
LEAD AKILI DADA ANNUAL REPORT 2015
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Our Work Akili Dada nurtures future leaders through two core programs that are strategically designed to equip budding leaders with internal resources and skills nescessary to change their communities.
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The Young Changemakers Program The Young Changemakers Program (YCP) engages adolescent girls in leadership development so that they can access key-decision making spaces. We select bright girls from under-resourced communities and provide comprehensive scholarships that allow them to access education in top-performing Kenyan secondary schools. We select scholars from four high schools and hold Akili Dada clubs at a total of six schools, oering leadership development, skills training and mentorship opportunities for girls beyond our scholars.
52
Scholars received comprehensive 4-year scholarships to top Kenyan schools in addition to leadership development, skills training, and mentorship in 2015.
Young Changemakers Impact
1600
Adolescent girls directly mentored through Akili Dada Clubs.
7168
Community members impacted through scholar community service projects.
9720
Adolescent girls impacted through knowledge sharing initiatives.
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The Gap Year Program Highlight
In Kenya, every high school graduate has a gap year before they start university either in Kenya or abroad. Adolescent girls in particular experience higher rates of vulnerability to early and forced marriage, adolescent pregnancy, low-wage work, and overall dropping out and not fulďŹ lling their potential as the leaders they are. Our Gap Year provides participants, including Akili Dada alumnae, the opportunity to become job and university ready through experiential learning and intensive college preparation, as we support them during this critical transition to university, career, and young adulthood. The program is open to gap year students beyond Akili Dada Alumnae.
12
Gap year interns successfully transitioned from high school to university.
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537
Students taught by Gap Year volunteer teachers.
08
100%
Of Gap Year Interns Accepted to Universities locally and abroad with 8 Gap Year Interns accepted on full Master Card Scholarships to Ashesi University in Ghana.
2,685
Students indirectly impacted through gap year volunteer teaching.
3,527
Hours logged through volunteer teaching, providing learning support for students in under-resourced schools in Nairobi.
Scholar Community Service
Dropping out of school has serious long-term implications not only for individuals but the society as a whole. Akili Dada scholar Mary noted with concern that adolescent girls from her neighboring informal settlement were particularly at-risk of missing out on completing their education and falling vulnerable to adolescent pregnancy and marriage. Mary launched a mentoring program where she shares the skills and knowledge she gains through Akili Dada mentoring sessions and leadership academies, empowering girls with life and entrepreneurial skills to thrive beyond their circumstances.
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Club Social Enterprise
The Akili Dada clubs continue to create a platform for the girls to practice skills gained from mentoring and leadership development sessions. The Akili Dada club at Precious Blood Secondary School – Riruta has been able to transfer their chemistry class knowledge concepts of making soap to starting a social enterprise. They make soap, sell it to the school and use the proceeds to support a children’s home in their neighboring informal settlement Kawangware, Nairobi.
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Empowering girls and young women
Cynthia is an Akili Dada Alumnae and the founder of the Life Lifters Project. At the age of 19 Cynthia identiďŹ ed a need within her community for role models and mentors to inspire young people in her village leading to high secondary school drop out rates. Cynthia actively engaged with schools and mentors from her rural home in Nandi to meet this need bringing role models to inspire young people in her community to value education and aspire to achieve great things in life. Cynthia has since joined Ashesi University where she has extended the reach of her project working with girls in Ghana. She is pursuing a Management Information Systems degree and is a member of the university’s Outreach Executive Committee.
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Where are they now
Sharon is a 20 year-old student at the University of Nairobi pursuing a Bachelor’s of Economics and Statistics. She is an actress, dancer, singer, poet, writer and model. Since graduating from the Akili Dada Scholarship program, Sharon has volunteered for PACE Kenya and Nafisika Trust as an English Teacher at a school in an informal settlement and rehab center respectively. Though a full time student, she works as a film facilitator with Women And Girls Lead Global, an Akili Dada partner that works to amplify the voice of women in leadership. Sharon is also currently hosting her own entertainment show, The Chartlist, on TV Cosmopolitan (TVC) with the aim of engaging, educating and empowering while amplifying the voice of the youth in Kenya.
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Innovation In Leadership Program African women are missing from today’s social innovation incubators and political spheres. Our Innovation in Leadership (IIL) program addresses this gap by cultivating an ecosystem of young African women innovators and changemakers. We engage with young women leaders by catalyzing social entrepreneurs, social innovators and future political leaders.
500
500 young women engaged through the Young Women’s Leadership Development Forums.
Innovation In Leadership Impact
13 Young women social innovators and entrepreneurs graduated from our 2015 Dadas Ignite fellowship program.
36,000 180,000 Over 36,000 community members directly impacted through fellows’ social change initiatives.
Community members indirectly impacted through fellow’s social change initiatives.
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Going beyond our traditional reach
In 2015 we launched Dada Dialogues - a platform for young women to engage in conversations that activates their agency as social change makers. Our Dialogues brought us to 6 counties where we engaged with more than 300 young women, equipping them with information about gender-based electoral violence and strategies to overcome barriers to women's participation in leadership. We feel that reaching women in remote and hard-to-reach geographies is an imperative as they experience the most marginalization and severe eects of social and economic exclusion and environmental challenges.
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Fellow Spotlight: Music. Culture. Advocacy Jescah is 2015 Dadas Ignite Fellow, a singer and a strong advocate against female genital mutilation in her community. With the seed grant from Akili Dada, Jescah produced an anti FGM song in her native language that also promotes girl child education. She’s received signiďŹ cant airplay in local radio stations gaining popularity with a target audience. Jescah is currently working on a video for the song that will bring together other anti- FGM activists who will use the song in their campaigns. Jescah has been invited to perform her song in the US in June 2016 elevating her campaign to a global stage. The song is an advocacy tool that is now being used in the local context to implement and enforce the already existing ANTI FGM ACT which was passed into law in 2011.
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Cultivating an Ecosystem of Changemakers
Our 2015 fellowship class made significant progress in their projects with tangible results at the end of their fellowship journeys. Blandine, a fellow from neighboring Rwanda is providing access to child and maternal rights information to young women and mothers in Rwanda. The print, online and ‘soon-to-be’ launched mobile application disseminates reproductive health information , covering the psychological and practical aspects of raising a child and the emotional issues that face mothers.
29,000
3 Issues with a circulation of 29,000 both online and offline.
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Organizational health Akili Dada had a budget of $930,000 for the FY 2015
Program Costs
71.6% Monitoring & Evaluation
3.3%
$930,000 Management & General
13.3%
Communication & Fundraising
11.8%
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Funders spotlight Our work would not be possible without the generous support and partnership of many individual and institutional funders. Their commitment to advancing adolescent girls and young women's leadership enables Akili Dada to nurture and invest in the next generation of African women leaders. To you, we are grateful! THANK YOU!!
JJP Family Foundation
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Celebrating Sisterhood A huge thank you to our sister organizations and Dadas - past, present, and future - and to all committed to advancing this movement for women and girls leadership.
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How to get involved There are many ways to be part of the Akili Dada Community as we invest in Africa’s future women leaders. Donate, become a mentor or partner with us as we invest in Africa’s future women leaders! Please visit our website or contact us directly for more information Contact Website: www.akilidada.org Phone: +254 020 2013873 +254 721552120
Facebook.com/AkiliDada Email:info@akilidada.org
Twitter @AkiliDada Youtube www.youtube.com/akilidada
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