Annual Milestones & Highlights
2023 was our most impactful year yet! We provided more children with school uniforms than ever before, hired Gloria Omuya as our Project Director in Kenya, and had our most successful fundraising year!
Improved Academics
High Student Attendance
High Level of Confidence
Our Mission
We increase school enrollment and create economic opportunity by providing the world’s most vulnerable children with locally made school uniforms.
2023: Impact by the Numbers
15
Projects funded with 15 partners in 9 countries
27,270
Uniforms provided to children at 145 schools
$997,035
Raised
91
Cents on the dollar went to uniforms
400+
Tailors and support staff employed
Program Impacts
More Children in School
We believe every child deserves an education, regardless of where they were born or their family’s income and a uniform should not stand in their way. Through education we can end the cycle of poverty.
Sense of Agency
Uniforms instill or increase student confidence, pride, self esteem and self worth. Class participation increases and improves when students feel comfortable and at ease.
Safety
When a child is in school, exposure to risks such as gang recruitment, kidnapping, child labor and trafficking are reduced.
Economic Opportunity
All of our uniforms are made by local tailors earning fair wages.
Better and Safer Schools
Parents who can afford it pay $1 to $3 into a Parent Contribution Fund. Parents and school administrators then decide how to allocate it. This allows parents to have ownership in their child’s education and schools become safer, cleaner and more technologically advanced.
Community Engagement
Increased economic opportunity from locally made uniforms and school improvements from the Parent Contribution Fund create strong and stable communities.
Donors in Action
It was you, our donors, who made this our best year EVER.
What’s in a Uniform?
When doing measurements, tailors noted many students had no underwear. Additionally, many of our partners have begun implementing menstrual hygiene programs but those were not helpful if the girls didn’t have underwear to attach the sanitary napkins to. We now provide underwear to all our students.
Partners noted that adolescent girls were shy and quiet because some boys made fun of them for not having a bra. We now provide sports bras to girls beginning in middle school.
Student Molly said “I had plastic shoes which were burning me when the weather was hot.” We provide leather Toughees because they are durable and outlast the rainy and mud seasons.
Welcome Gloria!
Gloria grew up in Nairobi, Kenya with parents who had a strong emphasis on education and all the possibilities that can come from it. We met Gloria over a decade ago when she was working on our uniform project with our partner, Dignitas. Aside from having previous experience with our unique program, Gloria is passionate about development in Africa and investing in local communities. We are thrilled to have her as part of our team!
Some of our Student Voices
Maurine lost crucial school hours due to being sent home because she lacked uniforms and shoes in the past. She is very grateful for her new school uniforms and shared that she has gained confidence to walk around.
Mysterious as previously wearing a secondhand uniform borrowed from a friend, which made him uncomfortable at school. “Now I am comfortable when learning and achieving my goals.”