The little school that's having a BIG impact in Tanzania.

$1 puts a book in a child's hands. $17,000 expands our teacher training program to another school that needs it. (Both matter. Truly.)

What we do:

Kisimani School is a little public school (well, not so little anymore - 1,600 students!) that's having a BIG impact in Tanzania. We co-founded this school 15 years ago, in collaboration with the local community and with a charter from the central government.

We grew slowly but surely - and then made headlines, not once, not twice, but 8 years in a row. Kisimani ranked #1 academically in their district and has maintained an impressive 100% graduation rate every single year. The government is asking - "what's your secret sauce??"

It's pretty simple.

Kisimani School's success is a model **for what education progress can look like for public schools in Tanzania.**

Equal opportunity - teaching in English, just like private schools do
positive behavior management training for teachers
two meals a day provided at school

Sounds simple, but these are enormous improvements over the average public school here. Our school continues to face many of the same challenges as their neighboring schools - overcrowded classrooms, lack of teaching resources and materials...and yet, their results are undeniable.

Now, our team is poised to influence positive change, not just at our school - but for the entire school system. We have joined forced with EPI (Education Progress Initiatives) in their mission to improve the quality of public education in Tanzania and eradicate corporal punishment in classrooms. Their founder, Samwel Yonah, is now our local Program Director and has made it his life's work to ensure that future students do not endure the abuse he suffered as a child at school. It's an honor to continue this important work together.

What's next?

Positive behavior management training for teachers is expanding to other schools with the pilot launch of STEP (the Scaling Teacher Efficacy Program). It started with a question: how can we scale what we know works so that kids at other public schools are protected? Corporal punishment remains a persistent problem in Tanzania, and we can be part of the solution. Our partners at EPI have trained 50 teachers from three schools on an initial training called “Valuing a Child,” and every one of them got a first mentoring visit in August. Teachers have even started meeting on their own to go over the training together, and students report feeling more open and comfortable speaking with their teachers.

Where we’re headed:

We’re building toward a $250,000 annual budget so STEP can reach the schools that are asking for it. This will allow us to continue our existing programs, expand the teacher training to reach a proposed 27 schools over 3 years, and take our organization from grassroots pro bono to professionally staffed. $85,000 is already pledged annually, so we’re about a third of the way there.

Two ways to jump in and help:

$1 = 1 book. The library building is finished, and now we’re stocking the shelves, with a cozy reading corner and a real checkout system for borrowing and returning. Every dollar is one more book on the shelf.

$17,000 adds another school to our STEP outreach. This covers our program costs for EPI's trainers, follow up mentoring, field visits, program documentation and data collection plus classroom materials.

Thinking bigger?

If you could fund more than one school, make a multi-year gift, or know a foundation that should hear about STEP, email me at leah@friendsofkisimani.org - we’ll set up 20 minutes to connect.

Kisimani exists because a lot of people decided a little public charter school in Tanzania was worth showing up for.

Asante sana, on behalf of the 10,000+ students who've come through our school, and the ones whose teachers will make essential progress toward protecting and empowering them.

Kisimani means 'at the well' in Swahili.

Education is an opportunity that never runs dry.

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