Gabbra women, Bubisa Village, northern Kenya. All photos: David duChemin
2017 was a year of many challenges, but also tremendous progress at The BOMA Project. Despite a severe drought, an evolving global fundraising landscape, and a tumultuous election in Kenya, we enrolled 4,555 new participants and mentored an additional 9,100 women in our poverty graduation program. At the same time, we opened new offices and increased our staff size by 83%. We were able to do this because of the extraordinary support we receive from individual donors and family foundations. They invest in our vision and are confident in our ability to reach 1 million women and children in East Africa by 2022.
Want to know more? Here are the Top Ten Reasons why donors believe in BOMA:
1. We go beyond “impact.” Our goal is to effect real systems change with a proven, replicable two-pronged solution to extreme poverty in the drylands of Africa: 1) Change how humanitarian aid is perceived and delivered, through direct implementation and partnerships with other humanitarian organizations, and by treating recipients as active participants in building their own resilience, not passive beneficiaries. 2) Work with the Government of Kenya to include poverty graduation in their social protection systems.
2. We invest in local leadership. Our 100+ team members in Kenya represent 11 different ethnic communities. At the community level, our program is delivered by local residents who live in the villages where we work. Together, they bring a wealth of knowledge, experience and deep cultural understanding to their roles.
3. We use innovative technology for data-driven solutions. In 2017 we launched Performance Insights, a proprietary technology platform that allows us to collect, monitor, evaluate and respond to thousands of data points across our program. We can see in real time what is working and what’s not, ensuring that our participants get the support they need.
4. We go to the hard places. We target the most remote and challenging locations in the drought-ravaged arid lands of Africa, which are home to half of the world’s extreme poor. Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana and Wajir counties in Northern Kenya, where BOMA works, suffer from some of the world’s highest poverty rates, with anywhere from 71-85% of each county’s population living below the poverty line. A recent baseline of 1,755 BOMA participants showed an average daily household income of $0.33.
5. Our unyielding commitment to transparency, accountability and results. Our program meets the strictest standards of world-class foundations and organizations, such as Impact Matters, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, GuideStar, USAID and seven members of Big Bang Philanthropy , a group of like-minded funders working together to find and finance great organizations tackling the most pressing problems of the poor.
6. We work at the intersection of four critical UN sustainable Development Goals: ending poverty, eradicating hunger, combatting gender inequality and mitigating the effects of climate change. This global campaign recognizes that ending poverty must go hand-in-hand with strategies that build economic growth and address a range of social needs, while tackling climate change and environmental protection to improve the lives of people everywhere.
7. Our approach stands up to rigorous testing. We completed a Spring Impact (formerly International Center for Social Franchising) scale and replication assessment and tested our scale-through-partnership strategy by launching two successful replication pilots with Mercy Corps. “BOMA’s data-driven, rigorous and dynamic approach has the exciting potential to reach millions in need across Africa .”—Greg Coussa, Spring Impact
8. We empower women and girls to become agents of change. When women achieve agency, they go from being liabilities dependent on aid to being self-sufficient, productive assets. Putting women at the center of our program creates transformation not just in their own lives, but within their larger communities.
9. We have committed supporters who share our vision. Every year, we ask our donors to continue on this journey with us, and every year they do, driven by their belief in our program and the results that prove that their contributions really do make a difference. Our donors make it possible for us to innovate, expand, and to keep pushing towards our goal.
10. We care. Deeply. The work is hard. The obstacles are many. But the need is great, and the impact that can be achieved is profound. We cannot stand by knowing that change is possible. So we keep working towards our vision. And we thank you for joining us.
“ What makes The BOMA Project different, and so meaningful to us, is BOMA’s proven ability to transform lives .”—Katherine and Hugh Roome, BOMA supporters since 2015
Thank you for supporting our work and believing that together, we can end extreme poverty. We are looking forward to accomplishing great things in 2018!
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