Primary School Student
Early Childhood Development Classroom
Student Mentorship Program
When the walk to school starts at 4:00 in the morning in Northern Kenya
Sarah Hadden with Students
Dormitory built by KDEF
Community Conversation
Water Distribution
Opportunity Kit Distribution
Ahmed Kura Leading a Mentorship Workshop
Girls with Kits
Secondary School Students
OUR MISSION: Kenya Drylands Education Fund (KDEF) strives to improve educational opportunities for underserved populations in the drylands of Kenya.
IN developing nations around the world, major progress has been made toward achieving the inspiring United Nations Sustainable Development Goal: to ensure that all children have access to free, equitable and quality education by 2030.
In a remote, rural and ultra-poor region of Northern Kenya, we’re answering the call.
The Kenya Drylands Education Fund (KDEF) works to expand access to education for students in Marsabit and Samburu Counties. By engaging deeply with communities—listening and learning—we have developed a holistic approach that helps families to overcome the cultural and economic barriers that have traditionally led to school enrollment rates as low as 30 percent.
Less than nine percent of residents here obtain a high-school education, and only 26 percent can read and write. This keeps families locked in generational poverty.
KDEF breaks this cycle through a student-responsive, multi-faceted model we call EnART: Enrollment, Attendance, Retention and Transition.
Click on the links above to learn more about how our EnART model improves access to education and lifts up students, families and communities in the drylands of Northern Kenya.
Local Solutions,
Local Leadership
Our work is driven by local solutions and local leadership. In advancing our mission, we rely entirely on the people and communities of Northern Kenya to identify barriers to education access and to develop the most effective response. Our co-founder and country director, Ahmed “Kura” Omar, grew up here. He is a highly visible and respected leader and key to our approach and to our success. He lives in the region where we work and spends most of his time visiting villages, working directly with the students and residents we serve, overseeing the local staff at our new center in Ngurunit, and building KDEF connections across this remote region.
We believe that the best and most enduring work is accomplished not for the people, but among and by the people.
VIDEO: THE KDEF STORY
