Strong Foundations for Learning & Life

Why This Pathway Matters

Education cannot be separated from nutrition, continuity, and family stability. Friends of Dago’s learning pathway connects early childhood development with feeding, school support, scholarships, vocational preparation, and university transition.

The goal is not simply school enrollment. It is a continuous pathway that helps children and young people keep moving forward.

Evidence Across the Learning & Life Pathway

We separate current Dago records, verified historical progression, partner-wide context, and figures still under reconciliation so scholarship, feeding, vocational, and university outcomes are not blended into one total.

Start Strong — current 2026 Academy evidence: Dago Aldersgate Academy’s internal First Term 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 report also documents a semi-permanent Class One classroom, one additional qualified teacher, and one support staff member. During that same term, the school held class-level parent meetings and elected class representatives to strengthen parent–school communication and address academic and operating priorities. These are school-reported First Term 2026 achievements, not new 2027 enrollment, attendance or graduation figures.

Stay in School: internal 2025 records distinguish 141 Academy learners from 59 additional Dago Kogello Primary children supported through feeding, for a combined feeding reach of 200 children. The 2025 year-end review also reported 94% average attendance and 92% retention. Historical Friends of Dago records further document 24 Dago children in high school targeted for four-year support in 2012; 2013 reporting recorded 15 students in high school, eight high-school graduates, and 14 students preparing to transition from primary into secondary education.

Transition to College, University & Skills: historical Dago scholarship-team records identify 11 Dago scholars who met the secondary-school cutoff and progressed to university through KUCCPS. Friends of Dago and its education partners have also supported vocational/college pathways, mentoring, school visits, placement, application support, and transition guidance. Current Dago-specific vocational, university, and alumni totals are being reconciled with partner records before being presented as current impact figures.

Learn for Livelihood & Community Leadership: historical program records document financial-literacy and microfinance education, computer training for youth and adults, entrepreneurship and livelihood support, and community resource-center learning. The women’s microfinance initiative was operating by 2011, while 2013 records describe computer classes and financial-literacy/microfinance activities serving children, youth, women, and men. Read the approved Digital Access development plan.

How we report partnership impact: Friends of Dago distinguishes between activities it delivers directly, outcomes enabled through partner relationships, and broader community results created together. Partner-supported outcomes are included when Dago’s role and population can be documented, with partners credited for their contribution.

Joint Effort & Partner Evidence

Ascend Kenya (formerly Weiss Scholarship Foundation): a long-standing education-transition partner supporting scholarships, mentorship, academic monitoring, and progression beyond secondary school. Ascend Kenya’s current organization-wide dashboard reports 351 scholarships awarded, 166 high-school students, 69 vocational students, 109 university students, 157 high-school graduates, 34 vocational graduates, and 8 university graduates. These are Ascend-wide figures and are presented here as partner context—not as Dago-only totals. Historical Dago scholarship records separately identify 11 Dago scholars who met the secondary-school cutoff and progressed to university through KUCCPS.

Amani Partners Kenya: a long-standing partner in Dago early-childhood education, sponsorship, feeding, and related support. Amani’s current public sponsorship information describes approximately 175 children ages 3–6 served through the Dago ECD program. Friends of Dago’s internal First Term 2026 Academy report records 221 total learners, including the newer Class One; the two figures therefore reflect different program definitions and reporting points rather than a single interchangeable count.

Mission Partners Kenya: publicly identifies itself as actively partnering with Friends of Dago on the Dago child-sponsorship program. Its current materials describe a program that began with the first 11 sponsored children and grew to serve more than 100 ECD learners, with sponsorship helping provide school materials, uniforms, teacher support, and two meals for children in the program.

Other historical education collaborations: One Way Out has been one of Dago’s long-running education partners. Historical Dago records document boarding-primary sponsorship through Sirua Aulo and a primary-to-secondary sponsorship pathway. A 2013 Dago record also documents One Way Out providing ECD learning materials, paying teachers’ salaries, contributing partial support for preschool feeding, and helping fund construction of a two-classroom ECD block. One Way Out program materials also describe a girls’ secondary scholarship and community preschool/kindergarten support. APHIAplus Western Kenya separately contributed to education and household-resilience work. These records are being incorporated into the same partner-attribution framework so joint outcomes can be reported without double-counting beneficiaries or assigning one organization sole credit for shared work.

Community Leadership

Local educators, families, Dago Dala Hera, and community leadership identify learners who need support, guide priorities, and help monitor participation and progress.

Friends of Dago’s Role

Serve as a bridge between community priorities and opportunity: mobilizing scholarships, teacher support, feeding resources, institutional partnerships, reporting, and transition support; connecting learners and families to trusted partners; and helping sustain the pathway from early learning through secondary school, vocational or university transition, and adulthood.