Millennium Villages Blog

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015

Hygiene: talking about it to clear the air

‘Before, we were using the bush. Now we have latrines for boys and girls, and the headmaster told us how to use them.’ The 12-year-old boy's candid explanation is a reminder of the lack of hygiene that still prevails in schools in rural and poor areas of sub-Saharan Africa. Like thousands of children, Nasiyani Chiwuye . . . [more]

Education, no matter the cost

'I have always had it in my heart that every child needs and deserves an education, but I previously had no way to realise that dream,' explains Kambunda Evarist, founder and head teacher of St. Evarist Primary School in Ruhiira. Back in 2004, he decided to pool all the resources he had to establish a first rate primary school in his home community. St.Evarist, a private school, caters for families who can . . . [more]

Kenyan Ministry of Education delegation impressed with Sauri’s school meals program

It is possible! That was the key message from Margaret Ndanyi, the Director of the school health, nutrition and meals Unit at the Kenya Ministry of Education, after touring schools in the Sauri Millennium Villages Project. She was there to experience firsthand the School Health, Nutrition and Meals programs supported by the Project in the Gem . . . [more]

Dertu promoted to the administrative status of regional Division

May 2009 was a turning point for the people of the Millennium Village of Dertu, Northern Kenya. The administrative status of Dertu changed from Location to Division, and the day was marked with jovial celebrations headed by the Provincial Commissioner for North Eastern Province Josphat Maingi, the Deputy Speaker and Member of Parliament for Lagdera (the constituency where Dertu is located) Farah . . . [more]

A camel, a tree and a blackboard: Dertu’s mobile school

Sitting under a sprawling acacia tree, Abdulahi Bari Barrow points to his blackboard and asks the students to repeat the lesson after him. Here, there are no classrooms and no roof other than the branches, no walls other than the tree trunk which supports the blackboard, and no desk other than the straw mat laid on the sand. This is the mobile school of . . . [more]

Boosting Student Enrolment in Mali and Senegal

A partnership between buildOn and the Millennium Villages project has completed 30 new schools in Mali. Together these 30 schools will provide access to education for up to 4,500 kids in the Mali Millennium Villages cluster. For this project, community members contributed over 81,000 volunteer work days to complete the schools, accounting for all of the volunteer labor needed to build the classrooms, latrines and offices. This is an average of more than . . . [more]

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