WISER

Live. Learn. Be.

The Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research (WISER) is a non-profit NGO working to build the first girls’ boarding school and research center in Muhuru Bay, Kenya.

Working with Duke University, we are dedicated to maintaining a strong academic program for girls that fosters a spirit of inquiry, intellectual independence and enthusiasm for learning. Girls will be challenged to lead, serve, make decisions and reduce the gender equality gap in Kenyan society. We believe a girls’ boarding school is much more than a place where boys are absent. It’s the center of cultivating the next generation of leaders.

WISER strives to be a model for others, and will also create research and experiential learning opportunities for U.S. students interested in international health and development.

Our story

It all started with a collaboration between Dr. Sherryl Broverman of Duke University and Dr. Rose Odhiambo of Egerton University (Kenya). Dr. Broverman initially consulted with the Institute for Women, Gender and Development Studies (IWGDS), which Dr. Odhiambo directs, on the development and assessment of a course on HIV / AIDS for a general audience. During the summer of 2006, Dr. Broverman and a team of Duke University students spent a month Kenya researching the needs of Muhuru Bay. With the support of the community, WISER is the direct result of that research.

Welcome to Muhuru Bay, Kenya.

WISER will call a small fishing village on the shore of Lake Victoria home. Muhuru Bay, located in the Nyanza province of Kenya near the Tanzanian border, and has the highest HIV and malaria infection rates in the country. The Nyanza province is the poorest in the country, and its political isolation has held back its progress. In this environment, girls are the ones who suffer the most. WISER is here to help.

We’ve laid the groundwork and we’re moving forward. With the first classes scheduled for enrollment in January 2009, WISER is taking shape rapidly. Take a peek at our business plan and see the framework WISER is built upon.