Mission 


Transform marginalized communities by providing safe and innovative spaces for accessing formal and informal higher education to improve employability. 



Vision 


A world where youths can achieve their dreams, regardless of where they have come from. 




Our history


YES has its roots in a vision of social justice and refugee empowerment through post-secondary education that would benefit both students and our community.


Starting in 2015, this vision by InZone (University of Geneva) was generously supported by Open Society Foundations and allowed a growing refugee management team to design the implementation of formal and non-formal higher education
courses offered by the University of Geneva-InZone, Princeton University, Purdue University and MIT, as well as through the Coursera for Refugees program.


Our roots in the Kakuma/Kalobeyei community have enabled us to increase our outreach to qualified post-secondary learners, and through our social-emotional learning program, applied arts and sports, which we incorporated in 2019, we
have built strong ties with the community.


In 2020 we realized our vision of establishing ourselves as independent refugee-led organization, currently hosted by Women’s Educational Researchers of Kenya (WERK), specialized in offering an engaging, holistic and contextualised
higher education experience to university students in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, built on quality digital pedagogy, 21st Century skills and Social-Emotional-Learning frameworks to university and other education partners interested
in making their programs available to refugees in Kakuma and Kalobeyei, or keen to partner with us on participatory action research projects.







How we work with others 


We are designed to collaborate with partner organizations and research institutions around the world. Here are a few ways in which we work:   



University Partnerships


-Higher Education needs analysis 

-Local course delivery 

-Design optimal EdTech solutions

-Participatory research in HEiE



INGO Partnerships


-Implement engaging youth education and sports projects 

-Co-design rapid response initiatives

-Support education mapping studies 



World of Work Partnerships 


-Support digital internships for students 

-Collaborate on digital livelihood opportunities

-Integrate your prototype testing in our active learning environments







The YES Storymap: How we empower youth to become change agents in the world. 


We have mapped out the personal growth journey young people undertake as they work with our teams and participate in programs. At every step of the way, we have built programs that support and foster personal bests.    







Our team


The YES team is made up of refugee activists who have participated in core programs and are based out of Kakuma, Kenya.





Juvenal Mbonihankuye


Project Director





Grace Muvunyi


SEL Coordinator





Arakaza Arcade


Logistics & Sport Assistant Coach







Aimé  Bizimana


Academic Manager





Ndayikengurukiye Mireille


Accountant