Impact partner profile

Nuru International

Cultivating lasting meaningful choices in the most vulnerable and marginalised communities in the world

Est. since

2007

Location of HQ

2020 Pennsylvania Ave NW Ste #600 Washington DC 20006, United States of America

Partnership date with Thankyou

September 2020

Area of focus

Security and Development, Agriculture, Economic Development, Healthcare, and Market-based Development

Regions

Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso

Website

nuruinternational.org

Nuru aims to equip families with the tools and knowledge they need to lift themselves out of extreme poverty, for good. Working with the most vulnerable members of society in rural regions of fragility in Sub-Saharan Africa, Nuru aims to address unique issues within each area they work in. These issues being; episodic hunger, lack of nutrition, financial shocks, as well as preventable disease and death, and any other challenges (such as drought, agrarian pests, and devastation brought about by violent extremist organisations).

Nuru employs a leadership development program designed to restore agency to local leaders and equip them to build and scale poverty-fighting solutions long after the team exit the area. The Nuru model focuses on long-term service delivery for all program solutions via farmer-led organisations or cooperatives. After 5-7 years of implementation, Nuru projects become a self-sustaining impact model, owned and operated by empowered local leaders, that then expands to additional regions. The Nuru model improves livelihoods and builds resilience in the communities where Nuru works.

Over the years, Nuru has enabled thousands of farmers and their families to transition from subsistence farming to farming as a business. Nuru not only helps communities chart a path out of poverty but by supporting the growth of farmer-owned and farmer-led agribusinesses, Nuru helps farmers to continue to stay out. Nuru has created local organisations in Kenya, Ethiopia, Nigeria and Burkina Faso, which have enabled thousands of households to grow and thrive in the wake of challenges that range from climate change and environmental pests to political instability and violent extremist organisations (VEOs). Amid these challenges, Nuru farmers and their cooperatives cultivate solutions and improve social cohesion. Every year, Nuru works to expand its reach to eradicate extreme poverty and unlock economic potential within fragile rural communities in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Core impact goals

Increase resilience

Nuru have an aim to increase resilience capacities in vulnerable communities. These will be evaluated by an academic research partner using a resilience capacities index.

Increase crop yield for farmers

Nuru aim to achieve a 32% increase in crop yield for farmers they work with during the 2022 season.

Increase income for farmer households

Nuru aims to achieve a 30% increase in income for farmer households based from Nuru-supported livelihoods activities.

Type of grant funding given

678,333* AUD

*Unrestricted Grants funded from September 2020 to December 2023

1. Scale Nuru Nigeria’s full set of program activities to reach 3,500 households in 3 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in Nigeria. 2. Scale Nuru Kenya’s full programming to 38 cooperatives in 3 counties. 3. Nuru Ethiopia’s supported cooperative unions (Hidota and Eisipe Dicha) to provide services to 7,500 households.Begin the expansion of Nuru International to Burkina Faso Hire by hiring the initial team, registering the locally-led Nuru organisation, and beginning community engagement by the end of 2022. 4. Nuru International to develop a pipeline of $7M of funding to be distributed in 2023.
FY2021 impact milestones

12 month (Oct 2020–Sep 2021) unrestricted funded grant: $500,000 AUD

Implement complete sequence of integrated development activities that strengthen rural households ability to cope with a variety of shocks by December 2021. Activities include crop production, animal husbandry, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship and household nutrition.
Nuru Nigeria (NN) offered the full suite of livelihood activities, including crop production of soybeans and groundnuts (1,134 crop packages on loan offered), ram animal husbandry (125 rams distributed on loan), digital financial inclusion (722 savers), entrepreneurship training, and vegetable gardens for household nutrition (995 permagardens established). The midpoint resilience evaluation found a significant impact of NN’s intervention on household shock preparedness and mitigation.
Expand enrollment from 500 to 2,500 total farmer households in northeast Nigeria by January 2021.
Nuru Nigeria's cumulative enrollment for 2021 was 1,908 households.
Distribute farming inputs (seed and fertiliser) and provide training in best agronomic practices to 2,500 farmers by May 2021 for the June to September 2021 farming season.
In 2021, NN distributed 1,134 crop packages and 125 ram packages for overall performance at 50% of the target. Inflationary pressures and the economic havoc caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic resulted in lower than expected uptake of crop loan packages. NN is taking steps to improve uptake and adoption for 2022.
Deliver digital financial services and digital literacy training to 2,500 households, and introduce mobile money and digital wallets comprising of secure, efficient and innovative technology for remote rural areas by December 2021.
Digital financial services and digital literacy training was provided to 1,908 households. Cellulant’s Tingg service for digital financial inclusion has been mainstreamed across all Nuru participants. As a brand new service in Nigeria, and for the first time in this community, payments are being done cashless, while the service has provided for NN’s needs, there have been hiccups along the way. As the digital marketplace expands NN continues to actively seek out the best service provider.
Achieved
Milestone complete.
On track
Milestone on-track for completion within specified timeframe, outside of Thankyou’s grant period.
Partially achieved
Milestone <75% completed within grant period.
Mostly achieved
>75% completion.
Delayed
Milestone delayed, not completed within grant period.

The regions where Nuru works are highly fragile and vulnerable to numerous risks including climate change, insurgencies, and political instability. These goals are stretch targets as a result of operating in these high-risk environments. As a result, goals are assessed as ‘on-track’ (have a very high likelihood of soon being achieved) or ‘complete’, defined as >75% of the target being met.

FY2021 impact report