This month, Dignitas celebrates International Women’s Day!

Here in Nairobi, women in coaching, teaching and leadership positions make invaluable contributions to advance our mission to ensure all children have access to an excellent education.  Today, and everyday, we celebrate their commitment to cultivating the academic skills and strengths of character in Kenyan youth.  Their work lays a strong foundation for the success of the 14,000 students impacted by Dignitas partnerships.

We’re grateful and proud of the many inspiring women with which Dignitas partners! Meet Evelyne Mmbone, one such wonder woman who founded a learning centre for students in Kawangware.  

“To me, education is very important because it’s the foundation of everything in life. Especially in this country, you can’t achieve anything without an education,” explains Evelyne, who left hotel management to help provide youth with this foundation through teaching.  Evelyn taught for nine years before founding Zeal Covenant Centre, a school serving over 200 students in the Kawangware neighborhood in Nairobi.  Evelyn’s dream for her school is to have a “bigger school that can offer better education to children around, and ensure that children who are very needy can get the education they deserve”

Through our gradual-release model, Dignitas equips school directors like Evelyn to achieve their goals.  Says Evelyn of her Dignitas coach, “Carol has taught me how to do classroom observation, how to talk to teachers, and how to develop materials. She made my preschool wonderful!” While Evelyn acknowledges the challenges of limited resources for her school, she is proud that Zeal Covenant supports all of its students to achieve and grow. “I also love knowing that when children transfer from Zeal Covenant, they never have to repeat [a] class. They always advance”.  It’s not without hard work, however.  “Running such a school is a challenge-you will need heart and patience!” remarks Evelyn when asked to give advice to other school directors.

To Evelyn and to every woman working to achieve excellence in education, we thank you and wish you a Happy Women’s Day!