A New Chapter for our Enkisoma (Education) Program: Building a Kenyan-Led Future
- 11 hours ago
- 4 min read
We are incredibly excited to share an important milestone in the continued growth of the Enkisoma Program: the establishment of the Enkisoma Pay It Forward Initiative (EPIF) as a Kenyan-led Community Based Organization (CBO).
This is an important step in the continuation plan we have been working toward for the past year — and one that represents our long-term vision for Enkisoma: a program that can continue supporting girls in rural Kenya for generations to come, with increasing leadership and ownership within the Kenyan community.
From scholarship recipients to leaders
Since 2012, Seeds to Sew has supported girls in rural Kenya by helping provide school fees and educational opportunities to girls who otherwise might not have been able to remain in school.
But from the beginning, we have hoped that Enkisoma Program could become something bigger than a scholarship program.
The idea behind EPIF is simple: when a girl receives an opportunity, that opportunity can eventually create an opportunity for someone else.
Former scholarship recipients can become mentors, contributors, community leaders, fundraisers, and advocates for the next generation. Some may contribute financially once they are working; others may contribute their time, skills, experience, or leadership.
Over time, we hope this creates a continuing cycle of opportunity — one generation helping the next.
EPIF will be based in Kenya, led by Kenyan leaders, including Alice, our Kenyan Program Manager, and Agnes and Elizabeth, both former Enkisoma beneficiaries, who are serving as the first officials of the newly established CBO. This is a tremendous step for both of them and for the future of the program.
We are deeply grateful to our Kenyan leaders for choosing to take on this responsibility and for believing strongly enough in the mission to help build something that can last.
A journey across Kenya
Recently, our program manager, Alice Kimaru, traveled across Kenya from our Nyeri location to Transmara District to meet with Agnes and Elizabeth, where the new CBO will be based.
It was a meaningful opportunity to sit together, talk through the vision for EPIF, and begin putting the pieces in place for this next chapter.
And this trip brought another exciting development with it. Alice was accompanied by Alice Njeri, one of the seamstresses from our Nyeri location, who traveled to meet with the seamstresses in our Enoosaen location.
This was another remarkable step forward for our Enkiteng sewing program.
For some time, we have wanted to create opportunities for our seamstresses from different ethnic communities and locations to meet one another, share experiences, exchange ideas, and learn from each other. And while we had begun this exchange pre-pandemic, Alice’s visit picked up on where we left off.
We hope this will re-invigorate exchanges between our sewing teams. Sometimes an important new connection begins simply by making the journey to meet one another — and we are excited to see where this one leads.
A very special thank you to David
A transition of this kind requires a great deal of thought, planning, and careful preparation.
We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to our friend David Sardar (and our mutual friend Mara who introduced us!). David generously offered his expertise and volunteered countless hours over the past year to help us think this program through.
He brainstormed with us, reviewed and edited documents, helped develop and refine the organizational structure, and asked hard and important questions that helped us look at the program from different perspectives.
His input has been invaluable in helping us fine-tune the plan and make sure we are building a strong foundation for the future.
We are incredibly grateful for his generosity, his patience, and his belief in what we are trying to accomplish.
A transition — not an ending
Establishing EPIF does not mean our work is finished. Quite the opposite.
We still have a great deal of work ahead of us over the coming years as the Kenyan team develops its experience, systems, leadership, fundraising capacity, and independence.
During this initial period, Seeds to Sew will continue providing financial, technical, and organizational support while working alongside the Kenyan leadership. Our goal is to gradually transition toward a relationship in which EPIF has increasing local ownership and independence.
We expect this process to take years, and we believe that is exactly how it should be. Building something sustainable takes time.
Our long-term vision is for EPIF to grow through alumnae participation, community contributions, fundraising, and Kenyan leadership — ultimately becoming an organization that can substantially manage its own affairs and continue the mission far into the future.
Why this matters
For us, this is about much more than creating a new organization. It is about making sure that girls in Kenyan communities who might otherwise be unable to afford school fees can continue their education.
It is about giving former scholarship recipients the opportunity to become the people who help the next generation. Just as giving back has been extraordinarily rewarding for so many of our donors and volunteers, EPIF allows our former participants to experience that same sense of purpose—transforming from recipients of opportunity into creators of opportunity for others.
And it is about creating a system where the impact of one scholarship does not end when that girl's education is complete.
Instead, we hope it continues — through her work, her leadership, her generosity, her mentorship, and eventually through the opportunities she helps create for another girl – that is the heart of Enkisoma Pay It Forward Initiative.
We are incredibly proud of this milestone, deeply grateful to our Kenyan leaders for taking this huge step, and thankful to everyone who has helped Enkisoma reach this point.
And we are especially grateful to David for the many hours he has given to helping us get here.
There is still much work ahead, but this is a remarkable step forward — and we are excited about what the future holds.
From one girl to another. From one generation to the next. The opportunity continues.
