By Emma Wen | Annual Fund Officer
For the 2026 Kenyan school year, which began in January, we welcomed 92 new girls across fourth, seventh, and tenth grades to our flagship boarding schools, the Kakenya Centers for Excellence (KCE I and II). This brings total enrollment to 454 students. Many of our students come from homes without regular access to electricity or running water, meaning the first time they use a computer may be when they step on campus. With technological literacy becoming a key requirement for the modern workforce, we began partnering this year with a peer nonprofit, NairoBits, that specializes in digital learning. The national curriculum already includes basic computer competency lessons. Through NairoBits, students also learn from a comprehensive digital literacy curriculum that enhances their technology skillsets for future career paths. Under the partnership, students attend 1-hour lessons weekly at our campus computer labs.
In addition to ensuring quality academics, our schools promote a supportive, nurturing culture that encourages girls to build their self-confidence and leadership skills in the classroom and beyond. New students are paired with alumnae mentors who serve as role models and provide guidance throughout their educational journey. During the April 7-24 school holidays, girls attended trainings on life skills, career guidance, and comprehensive sexual and reproductive health to help them make healthy choices for their futures. To ensure our programming remains effective, we use a tool from AMPLIFY Girls to track students' agency as they progress at our schools, using the data to quantify and refine our efforts.
The generosity of GlobalGiving donors supports girls like Neema, a ninth grader who first joined our schools four years ago. The only daughter in a family of six children, Neema and her brothers have faced profound loss despite their youth. Their mother passed away in 2018, and their father in 2025, leaving Neema under the care of her aunt. “My parents only attended primary school,” she told us, “They valued education, but life was not easy for them. Even so, they always encouraged us to go to school.” Yet given her family’s financial limits and widespread biases that favor boys’ education over girls, Neema was at a huge risk of dropping out of school. If she left, she would also be under pressure to undergo female genital mutilation as a rite of passage and be married off early for her bride price. Bravely, Neema’s elder brothers stepped in to support their younger siblings, sacrificing their own education. They inspire Neema every day, fueling her academic focus and driving her “to succeed not only for myself, but for my family.”
Joining our schools on full support gave Neema the opportunity to not only dream for a bigger future, but also to heal. Through our wraparound model, she gained access to much-needed mental health services. “What has helped me most is the counseling. It helped me cope with life without my biological parents.” Today, Neema dreams of becoming an environmental advocate and a doctor. “I want to protect the environment because it sustains life,” she explains. “And I want to be a doctor because saving lives is the greatest way of giving back to society.”
Beyond our schools, we are committed to increasing access to education for girls throughout the community. Through our Education Access program, we are supporting 225 girls at primary and high schools across Kenya, including 72 new students. We cover their school fees and provide mentorship and holistic support, including wellness checks. This program, which was previously limited to graduates of KCE I, is now open to external applicants. This expansion is particularly critical for girls who would not otherwise have the opportunity to attend high school.
Our efforts also include partnering with the Ministry of Education to support specific schools in the county with targeted interventions. At Enoosaen Primary School, where over 1,200 students were learning without access to adequate bathroom facilities, we recently completed construction of a new bathroom block. At Ilpashire Secondary School, we built two water tanks to ensure students and staff have reliable access to clean water. We also partnered with Bridging the Gap Africa to fund the reconstruction of the heavily used Empurkel Footbridge, which children cross every day on their way to and from several local public schools. Interventions like these not only address the unique barriers that girls face, such as lacking school washrooms to manage their periods comfortably, but also create the conditions to lift up the overall quality of education in our region.
Thanks to GlobalGiving donors, your generosity is increasing opportunity for girls in education and bringing us closer to a world where every girl can learn, is valued, and empowered to pursue a future of her choosing.
By Emma Wen | Annual Fund Officer
By Emma Wen | Annual Fund Officer
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