Our Stories
From Seed to Scale - A Panel Featuring ZanaAfrica, Gates Foundation, and the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development
On April 21, 2026 at the Marmalade Festival during Skoll Week in Oxford, ZanaAfrica joined leaders from philanthropy, education, and global health to explore one central question: What does it actually take to move from a promising idea to lasting, systems-level change?
The journey from seed to scale is rarely linear. While innovation is often supported at the pilot stage, far fewer resources are available to help proven solutions navigate the difficult path from evidence to government partnership, and from partnership to sustained national impact.
In this conversation, we share ZanaAfrica’s journey: building with girls at the center, generating evidence through a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with the Gates Foundation, and partnering with Government to deliver rights-based health education to adolescents in public schools across Kenya.
“Because There Are 200 of Us Today, We’ll Teach Under the Tree.”
Last month, members of the ZanaAfrica Foundation Board and our Executive Director traveled to Kenya to spend time with our Kenya-based team and experience ZanaAfrica’s work in action. We met with government partners and visited schools in Kilifi County, along the Indian Ocean. Our newest Board Chair, Nina Manasan Greenberg, reflects on that visit.
Knowledge is Power: Voices from Kenya
Learn about how ZanaAfrica is impacting girls across Kenya through the expansion of our proven reproductive health and life skills program. By partnering with educators and Government to deliver our proven solution, we're equipping girls with the knowledge and skills needed to enhance their agency, cause shifts to more equitable gender norms, and advance gender equity at scale
![The Impact of ZanaAfrica's Nia Program on Teachers and Students [video]](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/62d03eea82f8f40a3af66f78/1725842581529-YT0WB29FCCQOKSX911UK/Screenshot+2024-09-08+at+8.30.39%E2%80%AFPM.png)
The Impact of ZanaAfrica's Nia Program on Teachers and Students [video]
Learn about how ZanaAfrica is training teachers across Kenya to deliver our proven reproductive health and life skills program. By partnering with educators and Government we're creating systemic change by integrating reproductive health and rights education into classrooms, equipping teachers with the knowledge and skills needed help improve adolescent health and safety nationwide, creating sustainable change for the next generation.
Real-time technology aides real-life Issues
Learn about how ZanaAfrica is leveraging digital health solutions to connect girls and women across Kenya to immediate reproductive health and rights support and referrals.
The Power of our Solutions
Watch how ZanaAfrica's work has shown that social and behavior change solutions co-created with communities can promote positive gender norms and reduce stigma to improve adolescent health.
Meet Getrude
Getrude is a 15-year old girl from Kilifi, Kenya.
“When Nia Health Club came into our school, they introduced themselves well- this touched my heart and I loved it immediately!”
Meet Sidi
Elizabeth Sidi is our Program Operations Coordinator in Kilifi, Kenya.
“Here in Kilifi, a lot of girls of girls do not have access to pads or even underpants. And what ZanaAfrica gives to them is really a gift that they appreciate. It also helps them to manage their menses with pride and dignity.”
Meet Alice
Alice Kombo is one of our mentors in the Nia program, delivered though ZanaAfrica to support adolescent girls and boys.
“I chose to be a mentor because I have grown up in the same community. So I’ve had the opportunity to see what adolescents are going through. I had the opportunity to learn the problems that adolescents, both girls and boys, get.”