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Keep Her in School Initiative-KISI

The SMOR Foundation keeps Nigerian girls in school through our Keep Her in School Initiative — providing scholarships, menstrual kits, mentoring, and emergency support to ensure that poverty, culture, and circumstance never close the door on a girl's education

The moment a girl leaves school is often the moment her future narrows. KISI exists to make sure that moment never comes.

What KISI Is

The Keep Her in School Initiative is not just a scholarship program. It is a comprehensive ecosystem of support designed to remove every major barrier standing between a Nigerian girl and her education — financial, physical, cultural, and emotional.

Because keeping a girl in school requires more than paying her fees. It requires addressing everything that would pull her out.

Who KISI Serves

Public

Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Schools in target Areas

8-25

Age range of girls served

Priority

Write a short text about your service. Highlight key Highest dropout & child marriage rates

All

States across Nigeria

What KISI Provides

Female Mentors — Trained mentors — often former beneficiaries themselves — walking alongside each girl through the school year.

Family Engagement — Sessions conducted in Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Fulfulde, and Pidgin, building parental commitment to girls' education.

Safe School Audits —Regular assessments ensuring every girl attends an environment free from harassment and gender-based violence.

School Fees — Full sponsorship for girls from low-income households in public secondary schools across target states

Menstrual Kits — Termly supply of sanitary products eliminating period poverty as a reason to miss school.

Emergency Bursaries — Rapid-response funds for girls facing mid-year financial crises that threaten continued enrolment.

The KISI Difference

Most scholarship programs write a cheque and walk away. KISI stays. We do not fund a girl's school fees and leave her to navigate everything else alone. We build a team around her — a mentor who checks in, a family that is engaged, a school that is safe, a supply kit that keeps her present every day of the term.

Because a girl who is funded but unsupported will still drop out. KISI makes sure that does not happen.

FAQs

How are girls selected for KISI?

Girls are identified through community partners, local government education authorities, and school principals in our target areas. Priority is given to girls from the most economically vulnerable households in communities with the highest dropout rates.

Can I sponsor a specific girl?

Yes. Individual sponsors can request to be matched with a specific beneficiary and receive regular updates on her progress, attendance, and academic performance throughout the year.

What happens when a sponsored girl completes secondary school?

KISI graduates are connected to tertiary education scholarships, vocational training under the Roots & Wings program, and our alumni mentorship network. We do not tide her over and then abandon her at the door.

Does KISI work in southern Nigeria too?

Yes. While our initial focus is on states with the highest out-of-school rates, KISI operates across all geopolitical zones. The barriers differ by region — but the commitment to every girl is equal.

Keep a girl in school. Invest in a generation.

Sponsor a Girl Through KISI →

Our team

Our strength lies in our individuality. Set up by Esther Bryce, the team strives to bring in the best talent in various fields, from architecture to interior design and sales.

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woman wearing black scoop-neck long-sleeved shirt
Esther Bryce

Founder / Interior designer

woman in black blazer with brown hair
woman in black blazer with brown hair
Lianne Wilson

Broker

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man standing near white wall
Jaden Smith

Architect

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woman smiling wearing denim jacket
Jessica Kim

Photographer