Evidence & Learning Update
September 2026
Friends of Dago is strengthening its public evidence system across all six strategic pathways in a way that fits the realities of a small rural Kenyan community. Evidence may come from school and training registers, community records, budgets and receipts, certificates, partner reports, photographs, local leadership confirmation, and formal reports. This update shows what those records currently support, how we classify them, and where reconciliation is still underway.
Our standard is simple: plans are not outcomes, historical records are dated, internal and community records are identified honestly, and ambiguous figures are held back until clarified. We do not assume that informal or paper-based records are less meaningful; we strengthen them progressively and use the level of evidence that is practical for the community.
Learning & Life
Dago Aldersgate Academy’s internal First Term 2026 report records 221 learners at term close: 65 in Playgroup, 62 in PP1, 46 in PP2, and 48 in the newly introduced Class One. The same report documents a semi-permanent Class One classroom, one additional qualified teacher, and one support-staff hire. The 2025 year-end review also reported 94% average attendance and 92% retention; the separate PP2 readiness/promotion measures are being reconciled before we repeat them as a single public indicator.
The 2025 financial/program records distinguish 141 Academy learners from 59 additional Dago Kogello Primary children supported through feeding, for a combined feeding reach of 200 children. They also record KES 504,000 in school-fee collections against KES 576,000 expected. Historical and partner records document the wider pathway from early learning and feeding through primary, secondary, vocational, and university transition; current scholarship and alumni registers are still being reconciled.
Women’s Economic Empowerment
Dago Threads of Hope records now provide evidence across several stages of the program. An earlier sponsorship proposal reports 14 women fully trained and awarded Kenya national examination certificates. A later 2024–2025 program source reports 33 students trained since inception and 15 establishing their own shops. Current June, July, and August 2026 reports separately document ongoing tailoring production, customer sales, and reported profit.
Toronto Metropolitan University’s historical Dago project record independently reports 40 microloans and 40 businesses started, while a later community record refers to 40 microloans to 30 women entrepreneurs. These may reflect different definitions or reporting periods. We keep them separate until the original microloan records are reconciled rather than forcing one cumulative number.
Nutrition, Agriculture & Environment
A 2024 Dago Dala Hera activity record reports 9 cows distributed to families, 3 dairy cows at the children’s center, a chicken-coop pilot with more than 50 chickens, and a beekeeping program involving 10 farmers and 20 hives, with an initial honey harvest sold. Toronto Metropolitan University also preserves earlier Dago beekeeping evidence documenting 24 hives and a community enterprise model, while Well Aware publicly documents a Dago clean-water system implemented in 2022.
These records show long-term community activity rather than a single annual project. Current production, revenue, livestock condition, hive activity, tree survival, water-system maintenance, and participating-household counts are being strengthened through simple local registers and partner/community confirmation before they are presented as current-year outcomes.
Youth Leadership, Sports & Health
Kenyan Goals has a documented pre-COVID history spanning 2009–2019. Village Volunteers’ 2009 archive records 360 participants across 24 teams, alongside HIV testing, under-five health services, eye care, dental care, and clean-water support. By 2019, Friends of Dago camp records document 48 sports teams and 192+ team representatives receiving leadership, health, and first-aid training. Historical program records describe annual reach in the thousands, while community leadership confirms peak pre-COVID reach of more than 8,000 people across 24 villages.
The annual camp paused during the COVID-19 period after the 2019 cycle. Friends of Dago plans to bring Kenyan Goals back in 2027. The 2027 return is a plan—not a delivered outcome—and will use simple local event registers for participation, health services, referrals, partners, and actual costs.
Housing, Sanitation & Dignity
Historical records document safe-water infrastructure, while current partner evidence adds measurable sanitation progress. JD Sheth Foundation publicly reports that 10 of a planned 20 pit latrines for vulnerable Dago households were completed in 2025, with the remaining 10 planned for 2026. Its public project archive also records a 2025 Dago housing project undertaken with Amani Partners Kenya.
We therefore now have defensible sanitation completion evidence, while the wider housing record still needs strengthening. Household-level completion registers, community selection records, hygiene/maintenance follow-up, and the final 2026 sanitation closeout remain to be assembled. An older boys’ dormitory document remains a funding proposal and is not treated as completion evidence.
Ethical Global Learning & Partnerships
Public, university, partner, and internal records now corroborate a long history of collaboration with organizations including Village Volunteers, Toronto Metropolitan University/Ryerson, One Way Out, Ascend Kenya/WSF, Amani Partners Kenya, Mission Partners Kenya, IDEAS For Us, Well Aware, and JD Sheth Foundation. These relationships span education, health, water, enterprise, environmental work, sponsorship, and learning exchanges. In 2026, Friends of Dago also strengthened its participant-protection framework covering safeguarding, incident response, screening, codes of conduct, media consent, and emergency/medical readiness.
The next step is not to impose a heavy reporting system on local partners. It is to maintain a simple current partner register, document who is active and what each partner contributes, collect community and participant feedback in practical ways, and consolidate those records annually.
What We Are Building Next
- Simple paper-or-digital registers that local teams can realistically maintain.
- Annual actual-versus-budget summaries built from budgets, receipts, fee records, and partner contributions.
- Practical scholarship, feeding, enterprise, health, housing, and partnership tracking without unnecessary personal data.
- Community stories that are de-identified or consent-safe and reflect local agency rather than deficit narratives.
- An annual Impact & Accountability Report that brings together achievements, gaps, financial stewardship, community learning, and next priorities.
Why We Publish the Gaps
Accountability is not only about presenting success. It also means showing where records are incomplete, where historical figures need clarification, and where a plan has not yet been reconciled to delivery. We would rather publish a smaller number of defensible facts than overstate the evidence.