ABOUT FRIENDS OF DAGO
Community-Owned Development. Global Partnership in Support.
Friends of Dago is the U.S.-based nonprofit partner and global support platform for a community-led development ecosystem rooted in Dago Kogelo, western Kenya.
A Partnership Built Around Local Leadership
The roots of Dago Dala Hera extend back to women-led community care during the HIV/AIDS crisis. In 1996, Mama Pamela and other local women helped found the Dago Women’s Group, building a caregiving and household-support system that later grew into Dago Dala Hera. The broader community structure took shape around 2000 and was formally registered as a community-based organization in 2002.
Friends of Dago, Inc. was founded in 2010 to provide fiduciary oversight, global partnerships, fundraising support, technical assistance, and long-term connections without replacing community ownership.
Today, the relationship is designed around a simple principle: Friends of Dago does not replace local leadership. We resource it, protect it, and connect it to the world.
Mission
To strengthen community-led education, health, and economic systems through sustainable development—ensuring every child and family has access to the resources needed for lifelong dignity.
Vision
Thriving, self-reliant communities where children learn well, women lead confidently, youth shape their futures, and development is owned by the people it serves.
Who Leads What
The model works because community authority, fiduciary responsibility, and global partnership have distinct roles.
Community Leadership
The Dago community defines priorities, local leadership drives decisions, and community members implement programs and provide feedback.
Friends of Dago
Friends of Dago provides fiduciary stewardship, fundraising, partnership management, capacity building, reporting, and global connections around locally defined priorities.
Global Partners
Universities, foundations, nonprofits, donors, volunteers, and other institutions contribute resources, skills, learning, and relationships in support of community priorities.
From Women-Led Community Care to an Integrated Ecosystem
1984–1995 · A Crisis Takes Hold
Kenya recorded its first recognized AIDS cases in 1984. Through the late 1980s and 1990s, HIV/AIDS intensified across the country and hit western Kenya especially hard, increasing illness, widowhood, orphanhood, stigma, and household economic strain.
1996 · Women Organize for Survival
As HIV/AIDS tore through Dago families, Mama Pamela and other local women helped found the Dago Women’s Group. Women organized home visits, caregiving, support groups, testing encouragement, stigma reduction, transport to care, and protection for orphaned and vulnerable children.
Late 1990s–2004 · Care Becomes Community Infrastructure
Women-led caregiving grew into a broader community support system linking orphan care, feeding, education, health outreach, and local organizing. Dago Dala Hera took shape from these roots and was formally registered as a community-based organization on March 29, 2002.
2005–2009 · Local Systems Grow
Orphan care, daily feeding, early childhood education, mentorship, health outreach, and community livelihood initiatives expanded around locally identified needs.
2010 · The Global Bridge
Friends of Dago was founded to mobilize resources, partnerships, and fiduciary stewardship around community-led work already established in Dago, while protecting local ownership.
2011–2020 · Program Expansion
Education pathways, scholarships, women’s livelihood programs, microloans, agriculture, and the Kenyan Goals Medical & Sports Camp expanded the community’s reach and experience.
2021–2030 · From Programs to Pathways
The strategy evolved into six connected pathways linking learning, nutrition, livelihoods, health, youth leadership, dignity infrastructure, and ethical global partnership.
What We Believe
We move beyond isolated charity toward a living ecosystem where education, nutrition, livelihoods, health, dignity, and leadership reinforce one another.
Community ownership
Ethical global partnership
Transparency and accountability
Long-term systems over short-term aid
Dignity at every step
Explore the evidence behind Dago’s history
Dago’s women-led community organizing and Dago Dala Hera’s formal history predate the 2010 U.S. Friends of Dago support organization. Our dated source guide documents the different milestones and separates retrospective accounts, locally reported progress and proposed activities. We summarize historical records publicly without exposing identifiable children’s or participants’ records.