About the Riley Orton Foundation
Riley Orton Foundation Org (ROF) provides holistic education and promotes gender equality in STEM education to ensure girls and a community with the agency to realize their full potential. Our mission is to alleviate poverty among marginalized girls and communities in Western Kenya by providing holistic education to rural girls and boys, reducing the gender and skills gap in STEM, and empowering young women through entrepreneurship training to provide our beneficiaries with the agency to make sustainable changes for self- sufficiency.
Through our flagship project, the AKILI STEMarts Academy, we promote gender equality in education by supporting both boys and girls to improve and grow interest in science,technology, engineering and mathematics by engaging them in practical STEM fields which historically have been male dominated. We then hope to inspire rural girls to take up STEM careers in order to reduce the gender and skills gap in STEM, increase employment of women and spur economic growth.
Since our founding in 2010, we have made an indelible impact in increasing access to education for marginalized students. In a world where more than 99% of humanitarian funding goes to predominantly white-led international NGOs, access to funding for locally led grassroots organizations like ROF has not been easy. Despite this, ROF continues to build strategic relationships with organizations who believe in localization and are able to invest in grassroots leaders and allow ROF to focus on its core work of providing holistic education to disadvantaged rural girls and boys and to establish a firm foundation for growth.
To date, we continue to surpass key milestones in our Education and Leadership Programs and increase our impact in the community. We keep girls in school through scholarships and ensure 100% transition from primary to high school for rural girls and boys from over 21 secondary schools in Kisumu, Siaya and Kakamega counties through provision of school uniforms and shoes.
Long distances to school is another major barrier affecting students' attendance to school and educational outcomes especially in rural areas. Our school bicycle distribution program where we give buffalo bicycles to rural girls and boys ensures that students reach school in time, do not miss classes /exams and have the confidence to achieve their dreams.
We also increase access to sexual and reproductive health information by offering lifeskills training on SRHR, HIV/AIDs awareness and agency training to empower the rural girls and boys. Our goal is to intensify community mobilization efforts on HIV and ultimately contribute to a reduced HIV/AIDS prevalence among rural girls living around the Lake Victoria region who are at greater risk of contracting and spreading HIV due to transactional sex for fish, food, menstrual hygiene supplies, and other basic needs.
We use the agency survey tool to measure outcomes of our programs
Tracking+Girls’+Agency:+An+Outcome+Evaluation+of+Diverse+Programming+Amongst+CDOs+in+E.Africa (squarespace.com)
Through our flagship project, the AKILI STEMarts Academy, we promote gender equality in education by supporting both boys and girls to improve and grow interest in science,technology, engineering and mathematics by engaging them in practical STEM fields which historically have been male dominated. We then hope to inspire rural girls to take up STEM careers in order to reduce the gender and skills gap in STEM, increase employment of women and spur economic growth.
Since our founding in 2010, we have made an indelible impact in increasing access to education for marginalized students. In a world where more than 99% of humanitarian funding goes to predominantly white-led international NGOs, access to funding for locally led grassroots organizations like ROF has not been easy. Despite this, ROF continues to build strategic relationships with organizations who believe in localization and are able to invest in grassroots leaders and allow ROF to focus on its core work of providing holistic education to disadvantaged rural girls and boys and to establish a firm foundation for growth.
To date, we continue to surpass key milestones in our Education and Leadership Programs and increase our impact in the community. We keep girls in school through scholarships and ensure 100% transition from primary to high school for rural girls and boys from over 21 secondary schools in Kisumu, Siaya and Kakamega counties through provision of school uniforms and shoes.
Long distances to school is another major barrier affecting students' attendance to school and educational outcomes especially in rural areas. Our school bicycle distribution program where we give buffalo bicycles to rural girls and boys ensures that students reach school in time, do not miss classes /exams and have the confidence to achieve their dreams.
We also increase access to sexual and reproductive health information by offering lifeskills training on SRHR, HIV/AIDs awareness and agency training to empower the rural girls and boys. Our goal is to intensify community mobilization efforts on HIV and ultimately contribute to a reduced HIV/AIDS prevalence among rural girls living around the Lake Victoria region who are at greater risk of contracting and spreading HIV due to transactional sex for fish, food, menstrual hygiene supplies, and other basic needs.
We use the agency survey tool to measure outcomes of our programs
Tracking+Girls’+Agency:+An+Outcome+Evaluation+of+Diverse+Programming+Amongst+CDOs+in+E.Africa (squarespace.com)
