FANNING THE FLAMES
2017
ANNUAL REPORT
TABLE OF CONTENTS 02 Forward
First published in 2018 by Akili Dada P.O. Box 27847 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya T: +254 721 552 120 www.akilidada.org
03 Who we are
04
05
How we do it
Introspection
06-07 Timeline of Key Milestones
08
09
10
11
12
Our Programs
YCP Program
Paza Program
Washa program
FMB Program
13
14-15
16
17-18
19
Proffesional development
Summary of 2017 Impact
Centred programming
Our Vision for the Future
Strategic Pillars
20-21
22
23 - 24
25-26
27
Program Strengthening
Organizational Strengthening
Board of Directors
28-31
32
33
Amplifying Young Women’s Voices
Our Partners
Acknowledgments
Brand Positioning
Financial Sustainability
1
FORWARD
WHO WE ARE
When we open ourselves to looking inwards, reflection and questioning our ways, the only thing we are sure of is change. Change can throw us out of our comfort zones and make us question what we’ve known as true for so long. That’s the spirit we at Akili Dada stepped into 2017 with. We knew what we had done for 11 years worked and there was evidence that we were onto something great. We wanted to find better language and ways of doing what we knew best and letting go of other pieces that even though we knew we loved, we also knew they didn’t speak strongly to our way of being as an organization.
OUR VISION
In summary, we exist because girls and young women CAN lead.
To nurture transformative leadership in girls and young women from underserved backgrounds to meet the urgent need for more African Women in Leadership.
Our leadership development model creates the foundation upon which girls and young women chart their leadership paths, build their skills and acquire the necessary qualifications needed to access key decision-making roles and leadership spaces. This model is unique in that it works towards developing our co-constituents holistically, thereby moulding girls and young women into adaptable leaders who are able to grow their thinking to transcend the traditional, monolithic education system and career definitions.
We took all of 2017 to draw a new strategic plan that will take us from 2018-2022. We know that as we embark on this plan, a lot is going to change or is already changing, but we are committed to seeing that change come to be. We are committed to cementing further the work of this nimble organization and ensuring that her song will always be sung for generations to come. For a non-profit, choosing to take time to pause and reflect is mostly unheard of. Reason being? We are always thinking of new ways of changing the world and how to get that new funding that’s just been launched by donor X. Sometimes this pausing to reflect means that an organization has to let go of staff members to figure out what to do next and can’t afford to keep people on payroll because we’re always strapped for cash.
By selecting from and building the capacity of some of Africa’s most innovative young women change makers, we are meeting the urgent need for both more African women in leadership as well as the overall need for transformative leadership across the continent.
At Akili Dada, we courageously chose to pause and reflect despite these realities. Pausing meant that we didn’t implement some of our programs, as we had to figure out why we had these programs in the first place and what their future was. Thankfully, we did not have to let go of staff to do this and therefore, we took the time to involve every staff member in the strategic planning. We ended up with a team that was clear on why Akili Dada exists and what she represents. It was also clear on what kind of a legacy we wanted to build together as a team that worked at Akili Dada at such a critical time in the organization’s herstory.
A world in which African Women Leaders are actively participating in key decision-making processes across various sectors.
OUR MISSION
OUR VALUES
Akili Dada’s value system comprises a set of five values, whose acronym is STILE, a word which carries a powerful and relevant meaning to our message of transformation. The dictionary defines STILE as “an arrangement of steps that allows people to climb over a fence or wall”.
Sisterhood
Transformation
WE RECOGNIZE THAT
We celebrate that even as we paused to reflect, we still managed to push some envelopes in our areas of programming. We invite you to read about our work and snippets of the strategic plan in this annual review. We are ever deeply grateful for all the funding partners who ‘get’ Akili Dada’s model and choose to invest in girls’ and young women’s futures through this organization. We were only able to pause and reflect due to this tremendous support that we receive from our funding partners.
We are an international award-winning leadership incubator nurturing a generation of girls and young women from underserved backgrounds through strategic investment that opens up opportunities for them to thrive.
2017 taught us to trust ourselves and to face the world boldly. We couldn’t have done this without the critical commitment and hard work of the excellent staff at Akili Dada. Each of us is the personification of the change we work towards; may 2018-2022 be onwards and upwards. Purity Kagwiria Executive Director, Akili Dada
African women from underserved 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. We are building a critical mass of girls and young women to address these challenges.
Integrity
Leadership
Excellence 3
HOW WE DO IT
A TIME OF INTROSPECTION
What began as an individual dream has become a collective reality. In 2005 a young African woman, Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg, set out to address the under-representation of women in leadership in Africa. She passionately led a small team through action, which manifested itself as the provision of high school scholarships to girls from underserved communities. What followed was a period of implementation and growth with the Akili Dada sisterhood authoring a number of great life-changing stories.
Akili Dada's leadership
More than a decade later, 2017 presented Akili Dada an opportunity to reflect upon her growth, learn from her past and re-imagine her approaches in order to amplify her impact reaching more girls and women. This re-imagined future birthed a strategic plan, which helped us map out our past and prospect into the future. The Strategic Plan is really the answer to the question, ‘How do we envision Akili Dada and how do we make this vision a reality?’
model is reflected across all
her programs. It represents a convergent circle, therefore
articulating the growth journey that girl leaders go through. The circle also represents the need to continue
growing each phase of the journey in perpetuity, as learning is never-ending.
AFRICAN WOMEN LEAD
Girls and young women meaningfully occupy and participate in decision-making process while consciously advocating for social justice and equality. IGNITE SELF-DISCOVERY
Girls and young women embark on a journey of self-discovery and as they clarify their hopes, dreams, and purposes for life and leadership.
DISRUPTIVE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT ACTIVE PEER INFLUENCE
Girls and young women are charged to influence their peers.
Together with their peers, girls and young women, engage their communities, actively, forming alliances with individuals and other stakeholders with like-minded objectives to create positive change.
We have made significant changes to ensure that our ecosystem grows sustainably. Our efforts will take advantage of opportunities to thrive both in scale and in social impact. We will actively stretch to build a robust movement of girls and young women changemakers. As we seek regional expansion beyond East Africa, we will look beyond the traditional ideas of expansion by building meaningful partnerships. This plan will continue to build momentum created and leverage Akili Dada’s existing programs, injecting new and innovative delivery methods all anchored on the efficient use of precious resources. As we embark on that work, we draw strength from reflecting on Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg’s journey, which inspires us to know that with ambition, passion, and sisterhood, we can conquer the world. As she transitioned out of Akili Dada in 2014 and passed the executive leadership baton to Purity Kagwiria, Dr. Wanjiru notes in a letter, “I have given my all to Akili Dada and feel that the strongest and most innovative ideas I’ve had for us have been shared, implemented, or added to our future plans. An organization’s strength is best proved by its ability to outlive its founder, and I know, beyond the measure of doubt, that Akili Dada will grow far beyond me.” We march confidently into new places and contexts and shall stop at nothing until girls and young women break all barriers that hinder them from accessing leadership spaces. 5
OUR FOOTPRINTS THROUGH 2017 Akili Dada hosts an Almanae Leadership Academy for her Dadas studying at the Ashesi university in Ghana.
A new year begins for Akili Dada with the resolve to embark on a journey to vision a new 5-year strategy.
Akili Dada hosts her first strategic planning meeting that came with candidly and courageously identifying her strengths and weaknesses, setting the pace for her journey of transformation.
Akili Dada embarks on an institutional impact assessment reflecting on the question ‘What impact have we had over the last decade?’
Akili Dada joins the HALI Access Network Communications Committee - an association of non-profit organizations in Africa that work with high-achieving, low-income students to access international higher education opportunities.
Akili Dada embraces her feminist identity with staff participating in a group learning session.
Akili Dada restructures her mentorship engagement process and structure as the first step towards program strengthening. Akili Dada also co-hosts The Women's Leadership Summit with the Segal Family Foundation.
Akili Dada stays true to girl-centered programming approach, engaging her alumnae and board in validating her new strategic direction.
Akili Dada resolves to deepen her engagement with girls’ gatekeepers and hosts her first parents' roundtable as an immediate step to bring parents along as allies in the journey of nurturing girl leaders.
Akili Dada presents a paper ‘When girls read they lead!’ at the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) Conference on Girls Education in Africa.
Akili Dada concludes her strategic planning process by developing a revised theory of change and identifying 4 strategic drivers to enable her achieve her new vision. These are: brand positioning, program strengthening, organizational development, and financial sustainability.
Akili Dada hosts the Dadas Lead Art Contest advocating for girls not to be left behind in the efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
Akili Dada formally launches her Feminist Movement Building and Advocacy Program with a flagship project dubbed The East Africa Young Women’s Leadership and Mentoring Initiative (EAYWLMI).
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OUR PROGRAMS
Akili Dada nurtures future leaders through four programs that are strategically designed to equip girls and young women with resources and skills necessary to change communities. These are:
YCP PROGRAM
The Young Changemakers Program creates opportunities for adolescent girls to develop as leaders in their schools and communities. Dadas in this program are provided the space and support to develop their personal leadership style, learn how to identify issues and areas of need in their communities and build tangible skills to address those issues. Some milestones the Young Changemakers Program has achieved in 2017 include: YCP’s major milestones:
• Resolving to expand our work to reach more
marginalized girls thus spreading the Young Changemakers model into Kilifi, Turkana and Isiolo counties.
• Developing a girl engagement policy that governs Young Changemakers Program
Paza Program
how external parties including mentors, facilitators and other stakeholders engage with our core constituents in a manner that protects their rights.
• Having our very first scholar participate in the
competitive Yale Global Scholars program - a summer academic enrichment and leadership program that brings together outstanding high school students from around the world.
Washa Program
What next for Young Changemakers? Akili Dada has adopted a phased approach to her expansion with the regions selected informed by a comprehensive research that provided us with insights on the levels of risk adolescent girls are exposed to. By piloting our leadership academies, we hope to provide mentoring and leadership training to girls in order for them to forge a critical mass that can actively push for positive change. We want adolescent girls to understand their agency and the interconnection between their own agency and that of their peers which ultimately makes them empathetic and authentic women leaders in their communities.
Feminist Movement Building & Advocacy Program
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PAZA PROGRAM
WASHA PROGRAM
Previously known as Gap-year program, the Paza Program offers specific support to recent high school graduates in transitioning from high schools to institutions of higher learning with increased efficacy and experience. PAZA which means amplify provides girls and young women a platform to discover their innate potential & talents with a holistic support system to chart their own path for personal and professional development.
The Washa Program (previously known as the Innovation in Leadership) invests in Young African Women aged 19-30 from underserved backgrounds to lead and occupy decision making spaces, equipping them with leadership capabilities to challenge the status quo in the spaces that are critical to them. There are three initiatives within the program: Dadas Fellowship This is a pipeline for young women social entrepreneurs. A year-long program that incubates the most transformative young women, the Fellowship provides seed funding and an environment where young women can innovate and respond to the most pressing issues in their communities.
Through intensive skills training, internship placements and active community engagement, the program gives girls and young women a competitive edge to thrive in their academic careers as well as a competitive edge to access the job market while realizing a high level of personal growth.
Emerging Leaders Project This is a program for aspiring student leaders in institutions of higher learning. Akili Dada seeks to prepare young women in universities to participate in governance and policy formulation within their schools and across the world. Emerging Leaders provides opportunity for peer engagement and a collective power movement of young women to innovate solutions around most pressing issues and make the most impact within their universities and communities.
PROGRAM LIFE CYCLE High School Graduates recruited into Paza Program
Paza graduates join Akili Dada Alumnae Network
Paza participants graduate and proceed to join institutions of learning
Paza participants undergo Orientation
Paza participants undergo intense skill building workshops
Paza participants engage in community service projects & pre-collegiate internships
Young Women Political Aspirants We convened leadership workshops for young women political aspirants. We appreciated the need to invest in them by nurturing and building their leadership skills so that they would practice transformative leadership and thus have a greater impact in their respective communities. The workshops were a space to discuss opportunities and skills relevant to the young women’s development as Africa’s future leaders. 11
FEMINIST MOVEMENT BUILDING & ADVOCACY PROGRAM For 12 years now, Akili Dada has actively contributed towards addressing the under-representation of African Women in decision making spaces by nurturing girl and young women leaders. By financially investing in girls’ education and in young African women leaders to build transformative leadership skills, hundreds of young women have been prepped to take up these spaces. These experiences have enabled Akili Dada to build unique leadership and mentorship models that work directly to contribute to the following Sustainable Development Goals:
Reflecting on this track record, Akili Dada adopted Feminist Movement Building and Advocacy as a cross-cutting strategy that will drive us closer to achieving the goals. The program purposefully creates safe spaces and platforms for girls and young women to encourage intergenerational learning, sisterhood, and agency.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT; A MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO ORGANIZATIONAL SUCCESS
Akili Dada engages and socializes her growing sisterhood of girls and young women with feminist discourse by sharing the impact of her programming with the society. By doing this, Akili Dada provides innovative and inclusive safe spaces where women leaders can organically interact, discuss and connect. Akili Dada staff are also keen on professional development. As the Dadas’ role models, these are some tidbits of their learnings from different spaces they occupied in 2017. The 2017 World Innovation Summit for Education gave me a chance to explore and discover a wide variety of topics shaping the future of teaching and learning. Artificial intelligence is taking lead in edu-innovation. I learnt about strategies that I can utilize to embolden the growing knowledge society at Akili Dada. Samantha Wamani ~ Young Changemakers Program Lead
Akili Dada believes in equal rights and opportunities for all gender identities and embodies feminist principles in its values. We are thrilled to have embarked on the journey to build a vibrant community of youthful transformative feminist leaders who will together work towards building a just and equal world for all.
Samatha Wamani
Doris Mugambi
Misco Mungai
After attending a project management course for professionals at Strathmore University, I now understand how organization structures influence project management. I also understand my role as a project manager fittingly for Washa’s smooth running and how to manage Akili Dada’s stakeholders intentionally. Doris Mugambi ~ Washa Program Lead
Kate Kiama
The International ACAC Regional Institute in Abu Dhabi was a rich networking space with 109 countries represented across the MENA region and Sub Saharan Africa. I learnt new tools and strategies on how to effectively prepare the young women in the Paza program for their transition into universities abroad. We had enlightening conversations on the changing atmosphere and recruitment trends in international universities. Misco Mungai ~ Paza Program Lead
My COADY International Institute experience was an invaluable one! The networks, tools, resources and great cohort of leaders made the three week course worthwhile and of great personal and professional development to not only myself but that of Akili Dada. Through a shared learning environment with others from around the world, participants are exposed to a range of experiences and the beginnings of a potentially lifelong network of support. Akili Dada is favored to have a collaborative environment that had built a community of caring individuals who all work toward one common goal: investing in transformational African women leadership. The growing Akili Dada ecosystem is constantly supportive, reassuring and insightful by always leaving their door open for new ideas, innovations and methods of operations. We are thrilled to work with a team that values collaboration and understands how to progressively foster it within Akili Dada. Kate Kiama ~ Director of Programs 13
YOUNG CHANGEMAKERS PROGRAM
2017 COLLECTIVE IMPACT
16 NEW SCHOLARSHIPS
awarded to academically gifted girls from underserved backgrounds in 2017 alone, with a continuing class of 58 scholars
65%
WASHA PROGRAM
6400$
of seed grants awarded to young women social entrepreneurs and innovators (2017)
15
young women leaders incubated through the fellowship program with over 4000 individuals directly impacted through their social change initiatives
of scholars holding leadership positions in their schools (2017)
1,919
45
young women political aspirants trained through the short term and long term political aspirants project
PAZA PROGRAM
92%
13 Paza scholars (2016) with a 92% graduation rate for the class of 2017
414
students have been taught through the Paza volunteer teaching program
2674
community service hours logged by Paza scholars through community service and volunteer teaching projects
adolescent girls impacted through mentoring activities (2017)
1,800 +
community members directly impacted through scholars social change projects, with over 2200 community service hours logged (2017)
11/25
11 of the 25 young women opted to vie for the 2017 general elections as independent candidates post the party primaries held in April 2017
205
We trained 205 emerging female student leaders 15
A CASE FOR GIRL CENTERED PROGRAMMING
While girls and women have historically been denied agency, access to a majority of opportunities as well as the prerogative to make decisions concerning their bodies and choices, there has been a lot of debate around whether they have been ‘over empowered’ in the last couple of decades.
OUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE The year is 2022. As Akili Dada celebrates her 17th year, we will be celebrating a new era of achievement. The talents and energy we have invested into the implementation of our strategic plan will have made our bold vision a reality. Our focus on the success of our Dadas and especially on nurturing female African transformational leadership would have paid off. Our foundation of institutional excellence and inclusiveness has been strengthened through innovation and by our commitment to the success of our scholarship recipients, our students, our fellows, our mentees and all our alumnae. We will have expanded the geographic focus of our activities beyond Nairobi county, with the intention of reaching an even more diverse group of girls and young women, especially those from underserved backgrounds, within their communities. Our program activities provide educational and learning value to our beneficiaries while fostering economic development and community vitality.
Data available today shows that there still exists a long way to go with regards to girls accessing fundamental rights such as the right to education, the right to equality and freedom from discrimination as well as the right to expression, all of which are catered for by the Constitution of Kenya. Further still, there is a large discrepancy in access to the above rights by those who identify as male compared to those who identify as female. Data from UNICEF shows that in secondary school, the largest disparity exists among the poorest population of Kenya, with attendance rates being 33.1% for males and 25% for females respectively. This is why Akili Dada is working consistently to push the boundaries so that girls and women can have autonomy over their voices, bodies and choices and so that girls and women can access opportunities in leadership and decision making. Research has shown that when girls and women access leadership spaces, there is more accountability within these spaces as well as inclusivity, which allows communities and societies to live and aspire towards a more equitable world. Akili Dada is therefore actively challenging the status quo and we appreciate the partnerships we have built with other entities that believe in our cause; gender equality not only in Africa, but throughout the globe.
Each new initiative we have undertaken since the creation of our plan has revolved around this guiding principle. We engage all our beneficiaries earlier and more completely than ever before. And more of them are fully prepared for successful careers, positions of leadership and a meaningful life within their communities. We continue to seek ways to work more closely with partners in our communities to ensure support and a sense of community ownership of our mission. We engage more girls and young women from Kenya, other East African countries and from across the continent to nourish their enthusiasm for learning, community engagement, social entrepreneurship, and leadership. To prepare our Dadas for an increasingly dynamic and competitive world, we set and maintain rigorous standards in all of our programs.
Prospective employers and community leaders tell us that, in addition to content knowledge and critical thinking skills, we promote and develop communication and leadership skills.
17
We ensure that our Dadas are empowered with broad knowledge and transferable skills that prepare them to deal with the complexities and challenges of the 21st century. We also offer an expanded number and variety of experiential learning opportunities for all our beneficiaries. These practical, real-world opportunities enable Dadas to develop valuable skills while applying what they learn to the world around them. New and enhanced partnerships enable us to expand our presence in Kenya and to strengthen our brand. We are increasingly viewed as a thought leader on the continent. Our voice on young women’s leadership is heard and valued. We are deeply committed to community engagement. This attribute is a part of our institutional DNA.
STRATEGIC PILLARS
With over 12 years under our belt, we are looking to the future. We want to build upon the gems of knowledge and experience that we have gained whilst designing the strategic direction for our next 5-year phase. Moving forward we seek to go over and above, excelling in our: 1. Partnership building; recognizing that partners play a critical role in our work. We seek to cultivate and engage more partners at a regional, national and local level to enable us to work in places where Akili Dada does not typically reach or have a physical presence, thus effectively and efficiently using our scarce resources. 2. Communication and branding; developing strategic communication to inform the public about Akili Dada’s work actively incorporating the use of social media across all our programs and effectively using diversified media. 3. Documentation; by recording Akili Dada’s rich herstory learning from Akili Dada’s generations of Dadas, recording our achievements, challenges, and lessons. Going forward we have identified four strategic drivers to enable us to achieve growth and impact. They are:
We use technology to improve our output and add value to our beneficiaries. We are innovators and seek to find new, untapped ways to achieve our goals. Seeking, obtaining, and providing the financial, physical, technological, and human resources needed in our organization is imperative to achieving our vision. We are efficient with resources, and we continually demonstrate our stewardship to all our partners.
Program Strengthening
Organizational Strengthening
Financial Sustainability
Brand Positioning
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PROGRAM STRENGTHENING Paza Program experiential learning session
Washa Program Political Aspirants Convening
Young Changemakers Program mentoring session
Following a review of her performance, Akili Dada has decided to prioritize her actions to excel in a few carefully selected things by: i) Streamlining our programs to maintain a strategic focus on our mission and our theory of change ii) Defining and delineating the initiatives and activities that we will pursue over the next five years iii) Adopting a phased project model approach which will allow for learning opportunities iv) Making deliberate efforts to better articulate our impact through documentation and communication v) Building strong networks, continuously engaging our beneficiaries, alumnae, and stakeholders to champion for Akili Dada’s mission and vision
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ORGANIZATIONAL STRENGTHENING
Organizational development is central to strengthening Akili Dada, including strengthening and committing to standardized procedures and processes, ensuring that policies, handbooks, and charters are in place and in use and that our staff is given the opportunity for continuous development. Key issues include: i. Strengthening our Human Resource Pillars ii. Strengthening our Governance systems (Board of Directors and Senior Management Team) iii. Standardization of our operating procedures across different projects and developing efficient planning process with clear monitoring and evaluation parameters and seamless execution of plans iv. Diversifying our revenue portfolio v. Developing clear criteria and guidelines on our expansion strategy vi. Strengthening our organizational culture
OUR VIBRANT BOARD OF DIRECTORS Wanja Muguongo, a queer African feminist and social justice activist, is UHAI’s founding Executive Director. Since 2009, she has led UHAI's set up as Africa's first LGBTI and sex worker rights fund, in one of the world’s most legally and politically restrictive environments. Wanja has spent her 17-year career in human rights advocacy and community development in Eastern Africa’s civil society, and in India and Pakistan. Wanja Muguongo
Dorcas Onyango is Head of Sustainability for Coca-Cola Southern & East Africa Business Unit. Skilled in strategic planning, project management and a myriad of other capabilities, Dorcas has over 15 years working experience in Development, Marketing, Advertising and Corporate Communications, Sustainability and Change Management functions.
Our governance structures have been strengthened through maintaining a women led board of directors and senior management team. The Executive Director and two middle managers - Director of Programs and Director of Communications, Branding & Impact - make up the senior management.
Dorcas Onyango
Vallen Omari is a lawyer currently specialising on Energy and infrastructure projects. She is passionate about gender equality and social inclusion as a means to eradicatIng global poverty. Being an Akili Dada alumna, she is a true depiction of the success story of Akili Dada. Vallen Omari
Mechtild van den Hombergh has a background of over 25 years in governance and management. Since 2016 she worked and still works with clients such as Prince Claus Fund and The Design Academy PharmAccess Foundation among others.
Mechtild Van Den
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SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Purity Kagwiria has a background in journalism and is an active member of the feminist and women’s rights movement in Kenya and Africa. She is the current Executive Director of Akili Dada. Purity previously served as an advisory committee member of the FRIDA|The Young Feminist Fund and is a recipient of the prestigious HOW Fund Fellowship program. In 2015, she was named as one of the 18 Phenomenal African Feminists to know and watch. In 2016, she was named a finalist of the Most Influential Women in Governance and Business in Africa. She currently serves as a Board Member for Pencils for Africa, Grassroots Forward and is a Trustee of the Resource Centre for Women and Girls.
Catherine Kiama
BRAND POSITIONING
Our priority with regard to brand positioning is: • To strengthen our internal and external identity, effectively, • To strategically communicate this identity to external partners; and • To use our brand as a fundraising tool. Our key task under this strategic objective will be strategic communication to the public.
Purity Kagwiria
Catherine Kiama is a born feminist and is passionate about the law and in addressing social injustices that affect women and adolescent girls globally. She holds a Bachelor of Law degree from the University of London and is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya. Kate previously worked as a Lawyer and Program Associate at the Aids Law Project and undertook her articles at Tripleoklaw Advocates LLP. She also served as a grant manager at the Nike Foundation supporting the Girl Effect Movement.
Joy Zawadi is a thinker and storyteller with a knack for strategy and organization development. She has a background in marketing and management, with a degree in International Business Administration from the United States International University (USIU) – Africa. Joy is currently undertaking a master’s degree in Organisation Development from USIU where she is exploring how organisations can self-assess for growth and sustainability.
Joy Zawadi
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FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
In this respect we will focus on the following four key areas:
The groundwork we have laid over the past few years has prepared us to escalate our efforts further to ensure that our organisation will stand on her own feet and our core work will not collapse, even if external donor funding is withdrawn.
Geographic Expansion: As we seek to expand our geographical reach within Kenya, we will seek to position our brand to ensure that even when we expand, we will sustain our social impact, serve our mission, and stay true to our values and culture.
Through careful stewardship of our resources and with innovations in processes and efforts to find new efficiencies, we have built a capacity for reinvestment in key strategic actions. This is a capacity we will augment in advancing our efforts to increase and diversify our portfolio of grants, diversify our main sources of income to ensure the continuance of our programs and through a continual focus on recognizing efficiencies in resource development.
Thought Leadership: To become a thought leader, Akili Dada needs to be more of an initiator of conversations in various spaces.
Align to wider power nets: In addition to supporting and building a young feminist movement in Africa, we will consciously seek to align with regional and global movements by identifying ourselves with larger principles and goals such as the Sustainable Development Goals, and engaging in national, regional and global dialogues on issues such as universal education, mentoring girls and young women and women’s entrepreneurship.
12%
Language in Public Relations & Communications: The Akili Dada lexicon needs to be consistent so that all our communication presents a consistent and accurate portrayal of the organization. Both staff and constituents should be able to know how to respond to external parties with consistent language.
11%
Invested $108,411 in Monitoring and Evaluation
Invested $96,244 in Fundraising and Communications
14%
64%
Invested $573,321 in Programs
Invested $123,412 in Administration
Akili Dada is working towards a society where young women and girls are strong, safe, powerful, and heard.
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AMPLIFYING YOUNG WOMEN'S VOICES
Akili Dada not only provides mentorship and leadership opportunities to her constituents, but also documents their voices to combat the erasure of women’s histories and journeys. Below, some of our participants reveal their experiences in the various leadership spaces they occupy.
“Mentorship plays the role of teaching and even correcting someone’s mistakes. Mentorship has no particular pathway. It is a customized experience. One of the facilitators talked of the spirit of taking risks, daring and doing things the undone way. She mentioned that fear has no space in the direction of what you want to do. One should be confident enough to try out something new if it leads to success.” ~ Mercy, 2017 Paza Program participant
“My experience at the Yale Young African Scholars program was getting better each dawning day… One of the most valuable thing I learnt in the workshops is that leadership is a process. You cannot wake up one day and decide that you are a leader. It is not a one day decision! Being a leader is taking deliberate step-by-step choices advised by your goals.” ~ Phyllis, Young Changemakers Program scholar and Yale Young African Scholars graduate Phyllis
Mercy
Saum Idd
“The world tells you that you can not but if you insist that you can conquer, you can make it. This requires a lot of tolerance, patience, determination and leadership… I therefore have the responsibility and mandate to implement and apply the knowledge I get in here to transform the lives of my community and continent at large.” ~ Jacinta, Young Changemakers Program Scholar
Sharon
Christine
“I learnt about Akili Dada fellowship online when a friend of mine shared the application with me. I decided to apply. What motivated me to apply was I looking for a mentor, someone to guide me and hold my hand because I have big dreams that scare me sometimes. When I saw an avenue for girls to transform and make their lives better and that of their communities I was excited, because I’m passionate about social change and teaching what I love the most. I am happy and humbled to be part of this amazing blessing that Akili Dada is giving me.” ~ Saum Idd, 2017 Washa Program fellow
“As I left home for the Yale Young Global Scholars Program, I was very excited and could not wait to meet everyone who was going for the program. I however had some uncertainties. I did not know what kind of people or environment to expect. I was warned that I would not be able to blend with the changes or fit in the program. After more than seventeen hours of travel, I was at Yale University… I met people who have many achievements and I felt challenged to do much more with my time.” ~ Christine, Paza Program participant and Yale Young Global Scholars Program graduate 29
“I always knew that Engineering is my dream career. However, I needed to know what engineers do on a day-to- day basis before taking on engineering as my undergraduate study. On account of my internship at General Motors East Africa, I am very convinced that I want to be an engineer... Among the many lessons I am learning, I have grasped that engineers never make assumptions. They work with numbers since we all know figures don’t lie. They also pay attention to details.” ~ Claris, Akili Dada alumna (Young Changemakers Program and Paza Program) Riya
Claris
“My name is Jovia Nampiina, a 2017 Akili Dada Fellow from Kampala Uganda. I initiated Dignified Uganda to rehabilitate sex workers and victims of sexual exploitation through skills development training so as to financially empower them to earn a dignified living… I heard about the Akili Dada Fellowship through a Facebook post on a page called Opportunity Spark and I applied because I yearned to learn more about how best I can improve the implementation of my project but also get networks that can take the project to the next level. I was looking forward to working with a group of diverse people that I could learn from; the fellows and Akili Dada staff.” ~ Jovia, 2017 Washa Program fellow Jovia
Getrude
“My name is Riya William Yuyada and I come from a place called Mundri in South Sudan. My project is a mentorship program which we prefer to call ‘’I am my sister’s keeper’ because we take the place of big sisters to our mentees and is done with girls in schools. This project aims to encourage the girls to remain focused in school even amidst many challenges like poverty and lack of sanitary towels… I heard about Akili Dada from a friend I met in a feminist leadership, Movement Building and Rights institute in Nairobi called Veronica who was then working at Akili Dada at that time. We had just founded a women’s organisation; ‘Crown The Woman-South Sudan’ and sincerely speaking all I had was the passion to create change and ideas but didn’t know where to start from when it came to management or clear path I would take plus I had fear for the unknown. So when I talked about the organisation being a new one, Veronica then told me about Akili Dada's fellowship program and how the program would help me grow a lot. I looked the program up and I knew from then that this was the right time for me to acquire more knowledge, confidence, and increase on my network and indeed it is.” ~ Riya, 2017 Washa Program fellow and founder of Crown The Woman-South Sudan
“My motivation to vie was sealed by a call from my community and friends who asked me to vie for the seat. Many of them say they have acknowledged my leadership and they have trust in my capacity to lead and solve issues that affect them and represent their interests… My hope for the community is that they may be able to embrace new and innovative ways of mitigating the basic problems that have taken away our human dignity since independence such as poverty and illiteracy. I also look forward to a community that embraces societal values and does not glorify vices like corruption, which have severely eroded our national fabric.” ~ Gertrude, a Washa Program Political Aspirants Project alumna who was the first young woman to vie for political office in Turbo Constituency 31
OUR PARTNERS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Our deepest gratitude goes to the all our friends and community for their generous support to Akili Dada. For the opportunity to take time to think and rethink our strategy and reimagine our future. Your support continues to give us courage and audacity to program with girls and young women. We are grateful to the Akili Dada Board of Directors for asking difficult questions, offering constructive critique and giving us the space to lead from the front. Akili Dada’s staff: Our hearts are full for we have found our tribe. You find ways to bring your full selves to this work. You make it matter. Akili Dada’s sisterhood (scholars, alumnae, fellows, university students, and political aspirants): You are the fire and the flame of Akili Dada, we celebrate you. Our family of friends and supporters (funders, partners, mentors, stakeholders); You are the fan to the fire and flame of Akili Dada and we are privileged to have you.
Designed By: 33
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