[Nawee Afrika Education Foundation](https://nawee.org/) was founded in 2010 by Azefack Gideon Asaah and Gordon Divine Ntso as a passion project under the name Educate a Child in Africa. In 2017, following the escalation of a socio-political crisis into an armed conflict in Cameroon’s two English-speaking regions, the organization was restructured and subsequently renamed Nawee Afrika Education Foundation.

GOALS:

1- To create spaces in schools and communities where children can learn through play.

2- To create playgrounds in schools where rugged or unsafe surfaces currently prevent children from playing 

3- To rehabilitate schools that were damaged as a result of the crisis in Cameroon's two English-speaking regions 

4- To build classrooms and toilet facilities in schools facing critical infrastructure shortages 

5- To supply disadvantaged children with basic school needs 

6- To promulgate the education of the girl child especially in scientific disciplines 

7- To promote digital education in schools through capacity building and digital skills development.

MISSION:

To educate children and equip them with the knowledge and resources they need to make a positive change in their lives and become more productive members of their society and the world at large. We innovate teaching and learning to support African students in reaching their full potential. Nawee Afrika's mission is rooted in an unwavering commitment to supporting African students in their educational journey, ensuring that they have the tools and opportunities to reach their full potential.

We approach our work with authenticity and integrity, understanding the importance of being true to ourselves and our cause. We firmly believe in an asset-based mindset rejecting historical narratives that undermine Africa's contributions and instead recognizing the immense talents, resources and potential that the continent possesses. Guided by servant leadership, Nawee Afrika is dedicated to service. We lead with humility, kindness, mutual respect and trust understanding that true leadership lies in serving others.  

Through innovation, we continuously seek creative and forward-thinking approaches to address educational challenges and drive improvements. We actively foster collaboration, recognizing that collective efforts yield greater impact. We listen to the voices of the community valuing their insights, and co-creating solutions together. Above all, our foundation is defined by our unyielding commitment. We are tirelessly devoted to the schools and communities we serve, recognizing their crucial role in enabling our work and striving to demonstrate gratitude and appreciation.

Champions of Nawee Afrika Impact Diaspora Fund

Turning banana waste into sustainable products that reduce reliance on plastics and create livelihoods for women and youth.

**Tendo Social Development Group**

**What if agricultural residue could replace synthetic materials, create livelihoods and give young people more choices about their future?**

That question captures what Tendo Social Development Group is working to achieve in Kenya.

Tendo is a Kenyan nonprofit creating sustainable livelihood opportunities for women and young people, particularly in communities where unemployment and limited economic opportunities can make migration feel like the only path to a better life.

Our belief is simple: **“The grass can be green here.”**

We do not seek to discourage migration. We want women and young people to have genuine economic choices—whether they choose to build a livelihood in their community, move elsewhere in Kenya, or migrate internationally.

**From banana residue to beautiful hair**

One of Tendo's most exciting innovations began with something normally left behind after a banana harvest: the **banana pseudostem**.

We are developing fibre extracted from these pseudostems into natural hair extensions. This creates the potential for a new circular value chain:

**BANANA FARMERS → FIBRE → WOMEN & YOUTH → NATURAL HAIR EXTENSIONS → BRAIDERS & SALONS → CONSUMERS**

Following six months of research and development, Tendo has produced a functional, wearable banana-fibre hair extension. Prototypes have been worn and tested by women and have also been worked with and evaluated by professional braiders.

The next challenge is to move from a successful prototype to a consistent, market-ready product.

The environmental opportunity is compelling. Conventional hair extensions rely heavily on synthetic materials. We want to establish how far renewable banana fibre can substitute for these materials while creating productive value from agricultural residue left after the fruit has been harvested.

We are deliberately taking an **evidence-based approach**. Rather than simply describing the product as “green,” “plastic-free” or “biodegradable,” we want to measure and validate its environmental performance—including synthetic-material substitution, banana-residue utilisation, water and energy use, waste recovery, durability and end-of-life options.

**One innovation. Multiple opportunities.**

For **banana farmers**, fibre could create an additional source of value from the banana plant after the fruit has been harvested.

For **women**, opportunities can extend across fibre preparation, treatment and finishing, production, quality control, packaging, distribution, braiding, salon services and enterprise.

For **young people**, the emerging value chain can create opportunities in processing, production, technology, logistics, digital marketing, sales and entrepreneurship.

For the **environment**, the innovation gives us an opportunity to demonstrate whether an agricultural residue can become a commercially useful renewable material that reduces reliance on conventional synthetic fibre.

And for **communities**, viable green enterprises can expand the economic choices available to people who might otherwise migrate primarily because they see few livelihood opportunities closer to home.

**Creating livelihoods. Expanding choices.**

Tendo's work goes beyond banana fibre.

From our programmes in **Kendu Bay in Homa Bay County and Mukuru in Nairobi**, we work with women and young people to develop practical pathways to income through enterprise development, agripreneurship, climate-smart agriculture, production and sales.

We are also working with partners to help young women make safer and better-informed decisions about migration—understanding their rights, assessing risks, comparing the true financial implications of different opportunities and considering viable livelihood pathways closer to home.

Across these activities, our purpose remains the same:

**Create livelihoods. Expand choices. Strengthen communities.**

**What your donation can make possible**

Your support can help us take our banana-fibre innovation from successful R&D to market readiness.

Donations can contribute to product refinement and quality testing; improved fibre processing and pilot production; building a reliable supply chain with banana farmers and cooperatives; expanded testing with consumers, braiders and salons; environmental measurement and validation; more efficient use of water and energy; and preparing women and young people to participate in the emerging value chain.

We believe environmental innovation becomes even more powerful when it also creates economic opportunity.

**A banana plant can create value beyond its fruit. Agricultural residue can become a resource. Women and young people can participate in a new green value chain. And migration can become a choice rather than a necessity.**

**Help us turn agricultural residue into opportunity—for people and for the planet.**

Friends of Tendo Social Development Diaspora Fund

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