Elimu Yetu Development Organization

✦⫷ “Elimu Yetu” means “Our Education” in Swahili! ⫸✦

Elimu Yetu Development Organization is a nonprofit, non-governmental organization based in Kijenge, Arusha, Tanzania, offering free education for all ages, including preschool, afterschool programs and nutritional assistance for kids; mentoring, technology, arts and vocational courses for youth and adults; and talent shows, events, and a public library for the whole community.

Elimu Yetu began with a simple observation: a community is full of untapped learning resources — knowledge, skills, stories, experience, and talents — that often remain unused. In 2015, a handful of families and volunteers set out to change that, teaching literacy and life skills while sitting together on a pile of stones. Since then, we have worked to unlock the immense potential of community-based learning — providing free, high-quality educational opportunities for children, youth, and adults, regardless of income, gender, background, or level of formal schooling. Officially registered as an NGO in 2019, Elimu Yetu now serves hundreds of learners each year through programs designed to build skills, nurture confidence, and transform lives.

Mission: To educate children, youth, and adults through talent, understanding, and a positive attitude, meeting each student wherever they are.

Vision: To help everyone develop their talents, confidence, hope, and strength, and to further their own goals so they can become leaders for their community and overcome the challenges of the future.

We believe learning should be:

• Free: All of Elimu Yetu’s programs are 100% tuition-free, making them truly affordable for all.
• Positive: Our motto — “I love, I can, I will do it, I believe in myself!” — expresses the attitude we foster in every learner.
• Passionate: We encourage students to use their curiosity and love of learning as a guide to pursue their dreams and persevere through challenges.
• Self-directed: At Elimu Yetu, we nurture a culture of agency where learners explore their interests, set their own goals, and lead their own learning journeys.
• Growth-oriented: We believe everyone has unique talents and unique needs, and that they can discover and cultivate them through intentional experimentation and practice.
• Community-driven: Education is everyone’s responsibility. Parents, elders, peers and even younger kids are all valuable mentors, because everyone has something to teach and something to learn.
• Empowering: We teach students to be leaders of their own lives and their families and communities, and mentor them through their diverse challenges.
• Respectful, Safe and Loving: In a context where corporal punishment in schools is common, we model a culture of dignity and encouragement, building confidence instead of fear.
• Fun: Our weekly talent shows create a fun learning environment where students can take risks and feel supported to develop their abilities. The principle is simple: show your talent, discover your calling.
• Inquiry-based: Our teaching methodology is rooted in maieutics — the art of drawing out knowledge rather than imposing it
• Practical: Drawing on the Tanzanian philosophy of Education for Self-Reliance, we emphasize cooperative project-based learning, creativity, and hands-on real-world problem-solving, to connect education directly to daily life.
• Fruitful: We build relationships with surrounding schools, colleges, and employers, whose feedback continually improves our curriculum to accord with the local labor market, and helps us place our graduates in productive internships and fieldwork opportunities.

Programs and Activities

Early Childhood Education: Our free preschool program follows the national curriculum while emphasizing foundational literacy and integrating music, storytelling, sports, art, and English.

Afterschool Education: We offer tutoring and extracurricular programs after school for grades one through six to complement and supplement the efforts of surrounding public primary schools.

Secondary School Preparation: Our Pre Form 1 program works with graduating primary school students during the three months before they enter secondary school to ensure they are prepared with the life skills and English language skills necessary for success, while also giving them an opportunity to receive more advanced mentorship in an area of interest such as computer skills, arts, sewing or entrepreneurship.

Nutritional Assistance: All children enrolled in the above programs receive nutritious daily meals — breakfast and lunch — to support learning, maximize their growth potential, and address food insecurity.

Youth and Adult Learning: We offer one of the only higher education opportunities that is truly tuition-free, and free of prerequisite formal education or testing requirements. Our short courses for youth and adults draw hundreds of students each quarter from around the country and generally have a long waitlist. We help students explore their talents, match them with local internships and fieldwork opportunities, and help them start their own profitable businesses with minimal time and capital. Our training programs for youth and adults include:

Information Technology: Elimu Yetu’s technology department hosts some of our most popular programs for youth and adults from basic computer literacy, software and internet skills to more advanced topics in computer science and STEAM including robotics, AI, 3D printing, programming, photography, videography, editing, web development, content creation, graphic design and digital marketing. We’ve seen many students start from having never used a computer to being able to design and program their own project in just a couple of months.

Vocational Skills: Entrepreneurship, sewing, electrical installation, tourism, hospitality, hotel management, and culinary arts.

Languages: English, French, Russian, and Tanzanian Sign Language.

Visual and Performing Arts: Drawing and painting, DJ, MC, Music, Acting, Filmmaking, Traditional Dance, Modern Dance

Mentoring and Life Skills: Career counseling, leadership training, navigating relationships, parenting seminars, addiction prevention and recovery.

Sports and Games: We offer free clinics and coaching of all ages in tennis, soccer, pickleball, netball, dance, chess and bao (A traditional East African strategy game). We also sponsor formal tournaments in each of the above, including a games bonanza for local schools and junior colleges.

Remedial literacy: Putting into practice our mission to meet students wherever they are, students of any age who arrive not knowing how to read and write receive special attention to ensure they acquire the basic literacy skills that are the gateway to further education.

Library and Lifelong Learning: Our community learning space fosters a culture of reading, reflection, and discussion. Daily reading sessions, book clubs, and a newspaper reading station encourage curiosity and lifelong learning.

Events: From weekly talent shows, monthly birthday celebrations, and family days to our sports and games bonanza and community events to foster intergenerational dialogue, Elimu Yetu’s events help strengthen our community. We also cooperate with the local government to sponsor events at surrounding public schools and host events linked to major international observances, such as Women’s Day, Day of the African Child, and World Swahili Day.

Infrastructure, Growth and Future Plans

Classes, workshops, clubs and events run six days a week at our community center in Arusha which includes classrooms, a computer lab, administrative offices, two kitchens, 11 bathrooms, a water filtration system, a garden, an outdoor stage, and several flexible covered learning spaces, a quiet area for prayer and rest, and a welcoming library to nurture a culture of reading.

Our staff and programs have grown too — from a handful of volunteers in 2015 to a team of over two dozen full time and adjunct instructors, volunteers and support staff and instructors delivering dozens of classes, workshops, and clubs each week.

This growth has been made possible entirely through community support and donations. Looking ahead as we approach our second decade, Elimu Yetu’s priorities for 2026 and beyond include:

• Improving our facilities and infrastructure to support concurrent programs, weather-proof our operations and comply with local regulations, including constructing additional classrooms, a standalone library building, a covered gathering area, a dedicated space for storing food and a dining space.
• Opening a new location with more space to accommodate our growing student body and expanding curriculum.
• Expanding our programs by hiring and fairly compensating expert instructors.
• Long-term follow up and career counseling for alumni.
• Collaborating with local schools and colleges to offer workshops, facilitation and clubs to their students.
• Developing small-scale social enterprises to support hands-on learning.

Elimu Yetu’s programs change lives by helping people discover their capabilities, build skills, and connect to opportunities. When people believe in themselves, they go on to change their families, their communities, and the world. For 10 years, generous supporters like you have helped us grow from a few families teaching kids on a pile of stones to a vibrant center of learning and opportunity. As we look to the future, we invite you to join us to ensure Elimu Yetu continues to nurture talent, strengthen families, and support livelihoods.