WHO WE ARE
We are Keeping It Real (KIR) Foundation
Our Brand Charter
- OUR MISSION: Our mission is to provide empowering opportunities that give everyone we serve a better future by purposefully working with stakeholders to implement projects that give access to learning.
- OUR VISION: We envision a world where every person we serve has access to learning and empowering opportunities that enable them to have a better future and make a positive impact on society.
- CENTRAL OBJECTIVE: Inspiring Change through learning.
Keeping It Real (KIR) Foundation, established in 2010, as a nongovernmental organization (RC 916541) with a tax-exemption status commenced operations in Lagos in 2011. The organization currently has its headquarters in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, a Liaison Officer in Lagos and partnerships with various non-profit organizations and coalitions. We are a non-profit, social impact organization that is learning-oriented, disability-inclusive and youth-centric. We are committed to inspiring change through learning so that our beneficiaries can have access to opportunities to learn, grow, change and own their future.
WHAT WE HAVE DONE
KIR Foundation addresses educational and socio-economic issues with the purpose of inspiring change through learning. The organization gives books, teaches skills and advocates the rights of its beneficiaries, especially those with disabilities with the objective of breaking the cycle of illiteracy, poverty, inequality and replacing it with a new cycle of empowerment, opportunity, ethics and transformative servant leadership. All KIR Foundation’s projects under the following thematic areas; Education, Advocacy, Capacity and Sustainable Development are strategically aligned to promoting and implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations; especially SDGs 1,4,5,8,10 and 17; as a result, KIR Foundation was one of the few registered Hubs spread across 44 countries that participated in the 2018 Global People’s Summit.
In the past 11 years, KIR Foundation has worked over 120 institutions in Nigeria (Lagos State, Rivers State, Imo State, Abia State, Adamawa State, Niger State, Kwara State, Kano State, Akwa Ibom State, Plateau State, Bornu State, Calabar State, Delta State, Enugu State, Gombe State, Oyo State, Imo State, Kaduna State, Kogi State, Nasarawa State, Ogun State, Ondo State, Yobe State, Sokoto State, Zamfara State, Benue State, Abuja the capital of Nigeria and Ghana). The organization has reached more than 53,946, we have trained more than 831 youth in various market-relevant skills (Digital, Vocational and Soft skills) and donated over 38,592 books, numerous educational aids, starter kits and farming implements and published; ‘The Young Leader’s Guide’, a leadership manual for young people and ‘It’s About Empathy’, an Explanatory Guide to The Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities Prohibition Act 2018.
Currently, to commemorate the KIR Foundation 10th Anniversary, the organization initiated the KIR Foundation 10th Book Drive Campaign. KIR Foundation is working with stakeholders in the corporate, government, social sectors and a team of volunteers to establish 50 Reading Corners in public/community primary schools in the 36 States of Nigeria and Abuja to close an existing Reading Gap that has been further widened by the closure of schools in 2020 due to the Covid- 19 Pandemic. So far, 36 Reading Corners have been set up in 22 states and over 8,095 books have been donated from February 5th to date. KIR Foundation’s short term goal is to put 60,000 books in the hands of underserved communities that do not have access to books and train 120 young people in market-relevant skills and provide business linkages for them by the year 2023. Kindly check website www.kirfoundation.org and social media handles (@kirfoundation; Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Linked-In and YouTube Channel) for more details.
The KIR Foundation has received the following awards;
• IDPWD Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Society- 2014
• Rotaract Club of Port Harcourt Township Humanitarian Award - 2014
• National Association for Exceptional Children (NAEC) Service Award – 2015
• SWAGTv Community Service Award - 2015
• NECA's Network of Entrepreneurial Women Award of Recognition as Selfless NGO - 2016
• Rotary Club Service Project Partner Certificate of Recognition – 2017
• AIESEC University of Port-Harcourt Partner Certificate of Recognition -2018
• Rotary Club Service Project Partner Award of Recognition – 2019
• EDU Festival Prestigious Award of Recognition for Contribution to Educational Advancement – 2019
• Certificate of Recognition by the Kano State Government on the SDGs 2020
• Top Charity Nigeria Award by MoneyTransfers.com 2021
Our Services
We provide learning opportunities that create positive change in the lives of our beneficiaries through the following thematic areas;
1. EDUCATION
Educational Quality Improvement Projects(EQUIP)
• Book Drive Campaign – we put books in the hands of those who want to read but do have access to books or cannot afford them (underserved children, schools, communities and prisons)
• Career Guidance and Counselling – we host career workshops with counselling sessions facilitated by professionals in various professions
• Safe Schools Project – we renovate and build classroom public/community school
• Young Leadership Academy
2. CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT -Resource, Reorientation, Inspiration, Support and Empowerment (RRISE) and Youth Employability Skills (YES) Projects
3. ADVOCACY - Promote disability inclusion that seeks to change societal stereotypes and structures affecting our beneficiaries especially those with disabilities through our Harnessing Opportunities Providing Empowerment (HOPE) Advocacy Projects
4. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT - Promoting Sustainable Development Goals (1, 4,5,8, 10 and 17) to ensure that global best practices and targets are complied with.
5. KIR FOUNDATION COMMUNITY CENTRE - Providing a safe space for youth and children around the centre to learn new skills, research and connect with their peers through our Resource Room and Thank God It's Inspiration Friday (TGIIF) Youth Hub.
