Friends of Ngong Road

We empower Nairobi children living in poverty to transform their lives through education and support, leading to employment.

Our Impact

Since Friends of Ngong Road (FoNR – U.S.) and Ngong Road Children’s Foundation (NRCF) were founded in 2006, over 500 young people have been on the journey of life transformation with our organizations. They have been educated through the generosity of sponsors and more than 150 students have graduated and transformed their lives through employment. 

Academic Outcomes

We measure academic outcomes in several ways: 

  • Exam scores – both KCPE (Kenya Certificate of Primary Education) and KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education)
  • High school graduation rates 
  • Transition to post-secondary education

Kenya’s education system is in transition from a test-based system to a Competency-Based Curriculum. This will result in changing approaches to the measurement of student achievement. Nonetheless, it is helpful to review historic results.

Our students perform well above the average for Kenya as a whole. While comparisons to Kenya as a whole are no longer available. Our students’ 8th-grade exam achievement results have climbed steadily.

We also track graduation rates from primary, secondary, and post-secondary.  

Our mission since inception has been to support life transformation through education and, ultimately, employment. In 2021, we recognized we must increase our focus and effectiveness on the employment dimension of our mission.  

Employment Outcomes

Much of the employment in Kenya is called “casual” and is referred to as the informal economy. The alternative is the formal economy, or what we would typically know in the U.S. Since there aren’t enough job opportunities in the formal Kenyan economy, people must create their own employment to survive. Most families of students in our program support themselves through casual labor. At the low end, this means cooking food in the slums, running a small kiosk selling various items, or doing day construction labor. For those who have an education, casual labor may be as a contract position or temporary work, and increasingly, working in the gig economy.

We currently assist our students in getting jobs by developing guidance plans with each student to help them identify realistic career choices based on their personalities and grades. They soon learn the importance of working hard in subjects related to their career choices. 

In secondary school, we conduct a Life Skills Program to teach students general self-awareness and self-management skills and provide information specifically related to career development. Students take personality and strengths assessment tests, prepare resumes and practice interviewing skills.

Once they are in post-secondary school, we assist them with finding attachments (which is like an unpaid college internship in the U.S.) as part of their coursework. Those who have finished their post-secondary studies may enter a paid internship to get relevant work experience. We also help graduates secure entry-level jobs. Sometimes that is through an opportunity at Ngong Road Children’s Foundation, or our wholly-owned subsidiary (Karibu Loo), where they work as Sales and Operations Associates. We also tap board members, partner organizations, other alumni, and other external resources/networks to help graduates find employment. Additionally, we have alumni initiatives like the Techmates program, which trains graduates in digital skills like programming and digital marketing to improve their employability in the job market. The other alumni training programs include sales academy and apprenticeship.

The ultimate measure of Friends of Ngong Road’s success is the employment of graduates. It is our belief that when young people get educated and then get a job, their lives are transformed. We hit a milestone this year, we now have more than 100 alumni! We refer to them as the First 100 Alumni. In a recent survey, we found that 80% of our alumni had one or more jobs from May 2020-May to 2021.

Giving Back

After transforming their lives, through education and employment, 59% of our alumni support at least one other person either in or outside their household. This breaks the cycle of poverty for entire communities.

Three FoNR success snapshots:

Celebrate our recent grads!

Benta Benta joined the program in 2013 and it has been a life-changing opportunity for her, as she was able to consistently attend school and receive other support through our programs. Her mother was facing challenges raising and educating her and her other two siblings. Benta initially enrolled in one…

Continue Reading Celebrate our recent grads!