Awake

Our Journey in Germany, Brake is continuing! Last night our Chief Executive Officer had a dinner with the Old Table 352 of German, sharing our decade of impact. From the table enough funds were raised to support 15 students at Awake Changemaker School.

Last Friday, Awake Youth Initiative convened 20+ CBO founders and management teams in Mathare for a Disability Awareness Training, officially marking a major strategic partnership with Light for The World.

This convening launches our new institutional programming component: embedding disability-friendly systems, accessible infrastructure, and inclusive design directly into the DNA of grassroots organizations. By equipping local leaders to champion accessibility from the ground up, we are building a structural framework for community-led change that ensures no one is left behind.

We are deeply grateful to PaaMoja Initiative for hosting us. This is just the beginning of a transformative direction in how grassroots ecosystems scale equity and access.

Read our full annual report here:https://awakeyi.org/files/annual2025-26.pdf

We are excited to announce our partnership with Nova Pioneer Tatu City to supercharge our "Come to School! Stay in School! Thrive in School!" model at Awake Changemaker School.

Nova Pioneer is stepping up to cover essential basic needs for our students and their families at home and at school, while also funding the resources we need to run a top-tier mental health program. On top of that, this collaboration opens up direct student exchange and learning programs between our kids and Nova Pioneer students.

This is a massive win for our community. By tackling everything from daily wellbeing to mental health and hands-on student exchanges, we're making sure Awake students don't just stay in school they genuinely thrive. Big thanks to the visionary Director Nova Pioneer for backing our vision.

Happy Monday! Our 2025/26 Report has arrived.

Our 25/26 Annual Report is here! As we celebrate a decade of transforming the living and learning experiences of young people in Mathare, we invite you to look back at an incredible year of grit, growth, and community-led impact.

Before we drop the full report, catch our Founder & CEO, Meshack Otieno sharing an exclusive breakdown of our FY 2025/26 milestones. CEO Report dropping today at 4:00 PM. Turn on your notifications and stay tuned!

"The next generation of humanitarians are already sitting in our classrooms." When our CEO stepped onto the DIHAD 2026 stage in Dubai last week as part of the IFRC delegation, it wasn't just about presenting a pitch, it was about carrying the voices of Mathare to the world.

For over ten years, the Awake Changemaker School has grown from a simple truth: children don't compartmentalize poverty, education, and wellbeing into neat categories. They live them as one interconnected reality. Traditional schooling teaches kids to pass exams; we believe it should teach them to change their world.

Thanks to the IFRC Solferino Academy and invaluable mentorship from Henry Cáceres and Saru Duckworth we've evolved past proving our model works. Now, the mission is scaling it.

Surrounded by global innovators and humanitarian leaders in Dubai, those conversations about resilience and systemic change proved that our last-mile classrooms are incubators for tomorrow's changemakers.

YOUTH UNSTUCK: A decade of transforming youth livelihoods and leadership in underserved communities.

On 14 September, we launch the YOUTH UNSTUCK Report, a reflection on a decade of walking alongside young people, creating opportunities, unlocking potential, and supporting them to build better futures. But before then, we’re counting down the hours to the launch of our 2025/26 Annual Report. It’s more than just a report. It’s a collection of the stories, experiences, lessons, milestones, and impact that have shaped our work over the past year.

We can’t wait for you to read through it and see what we’ve been building together. The countdown is on. Are you ready?

Our C.E.O. had the opportunity to share the Awake story with the DIHAD team reflecting on a decade of impact, our why the lessons along the journey, and what lies ahead as we enter our second decade.

The conversation opened doors to new networks, potential partnerships, and exciting possibilities for taking Awake’s work even further including a potential move to Geneva later this year to continue connecting our impact to the world. We are deeply grateful to everyone who showed up this morning to listen, engage, believe in the vision and offer their support.

Next stop: **Bremen.