IMPACT & ACCOUNTABILITY
Evidence, Stewardship, and Community Ownership
Impact is more than activity. We look at whether community-led systems are strengthening learning, nutrition, livelihoods, health, dignity, leadership, and long-term resilience—and whether resources are managed transparently around local priorities.
Accountability Starts With the Community
Local leadership sets priorities through the Dago Community Leadership Team. Dago Dala Hera Self-Help Group leads implementation. Friends of Dago provides fiduciary oversight, reporting, and partner coordination.
No program moves forward without local approval. Community feedback and annual learning reviews are built into how the work adapts over time.
Our Accountability Principle
Trust, transparency, and community ownership are non-negotiable.
Global resources should strengthen community institutions and decision-making—not create a parallel system around them.
Accountability at a Glance
The partnership model separates community authority, local implementation, and U.S. fiduciary responsibility so each role remains visible.
1990s Roots · 2002 Formal Registration
Dago’s women and community leaders were organizing care and support during the HIV/AIDS crisis before formal registration. Dago Dala Hera was formally registered in 2002 and remains central to local implementation and community direction.
2010 · Global Support Platform Founded
Friends of Dago, Inc. was founded to provide fiduciary stewardship, fundraising, reporting, partnerships, and long-term support without replacing local ownership.
U.S. 501(c)(3) Nonprofit
Friends of Dago operates as the U.S.-based nonprofit and fiduciary partner supporting the community-led development ecosystem.
Local Approval Comes First
Programs are designed around locally identified priorities, community approval, local implementation, and feedback loops that inform adaptation over time.
Verified Impact Snapshot
These figures are verified in Friends of Dago’s Master Organizational Profile & Strategic Blueprint (2000–2030). They combine cumulative results, annual reach, and point-in-time program snapshots, so each figure should be read according to the description beneath it.
221
Academy learners recorded at the close of First Term 2026.
200
Children reached through the documented 2025 feeding program.
202
Point-in-time program snapshot: children receiving two meals daily.
8,000+
Historical program records describe peak pre-COVID reach of more than 8,000 people across the Kenyan Goals service area. Current Friends of Dago reporting uses the reconciled 14-village/community framing and keeps event participants, service recipients and total community reach separate.
120+ women
Reported cumulative reach across seven Threads of Hope cohorts since 2020; certification, enterprise, and alumni outcomes are tracked separately.
40
Historical Project Dago microloans independently documented by Toronto Metropolitan University; additional community microfinance records remain under reconciliation.
Project-based
Tree planting and restoration are reported by project, partner, year, and geography rather than combined into one Dago headline total.
300+ chickens · 20+ cows · 2 greenhouses
Current community/program leadership reports these operating assets, alongside a goat project dating to 2009 and continuing vegetable trials.
Learning & Wellbeing
Child nutrition, school readiness, attendance, and retention.
Economic & Youth Resilience
Women’s income stability and savings, household economic resilience, and youth leadership participation.
Dignity & Infrastructure
Safe housing, clean-water and sanitation access, maintenance and stewardship, alongside community feedback about infrastructure and program quality.
Local Governance
Local leadership sets priorities, approves programs, and provides ongoing community feedback.
Fiduciary Stewardship
Friends of Dago provides U.S. fiduciary oversight, partner coordination, transparent budgeting, and reporting.
Learning & Adaptation
Program records, feeding logs, VSLA data, participation metrics, and annual community reviews inform adaptation.
A Blended Model for Long-Term Stability
Friends of Dago’s sustainability model intentionally combines philanthropy, earned revenue, individual giving, and sponsorship so no single funding source controls community priorities.
The purpose is resilience: protect essential programs, reduce dependency, and build more flexible support around locally defined needs.
Strategic Funding Mix Target
This mix is a strategic sustainability target—not a statement of audited historical revenue or expenditure.
~35% Foundations & Grants
~30–35% Earned revenue & social enterprise
~25% Individual & diaspora giving
~10% Sponsorships & corporate support
How Accountability Becomes Visible
Accountability is strongest when community decision-making, program evidence, fiduciary stewardship, and public reporting reinforce one another.
Our Evidence Standard
Our evidence approach is designed for a small rural Kenyan community. A school register, training certificate, receipt book, community record, partner report, photograph, or locally verified completion record can all be meaningful evidence when the date, source, and limits are clear. We strengthen these records progressively rather than requiring complex systems that pull local leaders away from the work itself.
- Evidence should fit the community. We use practical paper or digital records that local teams can maintain consistently.
- Plans are not outcomes. Budgets, proposals, and targets are labeled as plans until delivery is reconciled.
- Historical evidence is dated. Older records help show the organization’s development over time but are not presented as current conditions.
- Internal reports are identified. Current operational figures may be reported from internal records while underlying registers and annual reporting are strengthened.
- Restricted personal data stays restricted. Historical child, guardian, health, medical, safeguarding, and financial records are not used as raw public storytelling material.
- We publish what we can verify. Ambiguous or conflicting metrics are held back until clarified.
Program Evidence
Enrollment records, feeding logs, VSLA data, participation metrics, and community reviews help document what is happening and where adaptation is needed.
Governance & Stewardship
Local approval and implementation are paired with U.S. fiduciary oversight, transparent budgeting, partner coordination, and board-level responsibility.
Public Reporting
Public reporting is being strengthened through a verify-before-publish standard. Current public information includes this impact framework, the six program pathways, governance roles, and the Resource Library structure. Annual reports, financial summaries, governance documents, and program learning updates will be added as they are reviewed and ready for public use.
Current Implementation Evidence — Greener Nairobi
Friends of Dago is documented as a local/lead implementation partner in the Greener Nairobi Urban Forestry Project. As of September 2026, project reporting records 9,300 of 11,228 contractual trees planted, with 1,928 remaining. Replacement trees are tracked separately. The Year-One cohort reports a working original-tree survival estimate of 87.4%, subject to final validation. This Project is supported by One Tree Planted, Inc.
Transparency & Reporting Status
Friends of Dago uses a verify-before-publish standard. We would rather share fewer current documents than present incomplete or outdated records as authoritative.
Public Now
- Community-led governance and role structure
- Six strategic program pathways
- Strategy 2025–2030
- Conflict of Interest Policy
- Evidence & Learning Update
- Contextualized impact snapshot
- Accountability and stewardship framework
- Public Resources Library structure
Under Review for Public Release
- Annual reports and impact summaries
- Financial summaries and stewardship materials
- Governance and board-level documents
- Program evidence and learning updates
- Additional partner and institutional resources