The Malaika Model

Noëlla Coursaris Musunka, a Congolese/Cypriot philanthropist and international model, is Founder & CEO of Malaika, a grassroots nonprofit that educates and empowers girls and communities in her home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. A unique, fearless, elegant spokesperson, and the face of leading beauty and fashion campaigns across the globe, Noëlla is a voice for the power of girls’ education worldwide. Founded in 2007, Malaika’s education and health programs are today impacting thousands of lives and are all offered free of charge. Noëlla is an advisor at Concordia and has shared her insight at a number of world-class forums spanning the World Economic Forum in Davos to the university halls of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and MIT. In 2017, Noëlla was named one of the BBC’s 100 Most Influential & Inspirational Women of the Year.  In 2018, she received an award at the 100 Years of Mandela celebration.

By chance of birth, too many people are denied access to education, healthcare, and clean water.The Malaika Model is changing this by making significant and measurable progress in health, education, and economic empowerment. We address these issues through these program areas:

Education: Malaika school provides free, accredited primary and secondary education to 346 girls with subjects including STEM, arts, humanities, and athletics. 

Community Center: The Kalebuka Football Center For Hope offers free literacy and vocational education, health programs, and sports programming to the entire community, reaching nearly 6,000 people each year. 

Water: 20 new and refurbished wells provide a consistent source of safe, potable water to community members.

Agriculture: Malaika’s farm supplies food for our students and staff while also providing training in sustainable farming practices.

The Malaika Model can be replicated, in a local context, allowing communities around the world to address and overcome these same issues. 

More than 10% of the world population live in extreme poverty (UN). This causes struggle with access to education, health, water and sanitation.  The World Bank reports that there are 130 million girls out of school around the world. Failure to educate girls will cost countries $30 trillion in lost productivity and earning. There are approximately 26 million girls in DRC under 25 and only 14.5% of women report completing secondary school. DRC risks losing millions by not prioritizing girls’ education.

Women and girls in DRC face disproportionate hardship due to long held beliefs that support gender discrimination. This hardship is more extreme in rural areas like Kalebuka where the average resident survives on $1.25 daily. The literacy rate for women is 4%. Without access to education and employment, women are unable to advance themselves.  The World Bank posits that an educated woman will increase her earnings by 25% and will invest 90% of her earnings back into her community. Women and girls make up approximately half of the population of DRC. The country cannot thrive until girls and women also thrive.

Malaika’s programs directly address education, gender inequality, health and water access, and economic empowerment.  

Malaika is in the process of formalizing the model that has made the organization successful in Kalebuka. We would like to develop a toolkit which we could use to improve our operations and long-term planning.  The Malaika Model Toolkit will also allow other non-governmental organizations and governments to replicate Malaika’s work within a local context, with consideration of the expressed needs and desires of individual communities.  The Malaika Model Toolkit will include Malaika’s history, process, and funding strategy as well as one-on-one consulting and site visits with Malaika leadership and key stakeholders.  Further, the toolkit will include fundraising guidelines and suggestions.

Our goal in producing this toolkit is to replicate the success of our programs in Kalebuka. We believe our programs offer unique value, because they have been developed in close partnership with the community and have been evaluated. We have captured the success of our work through ongoing evaluation and assessment. The development of schools and community programming modeled after Malaika in the DRC and other countries could provide thousands of young girls with a better chance for the future through education and thousands more with a safe, healthy, and economically vibrant community. 

Malaika serves the people of Kalebuka, a rural village with no electricity or running water, where the majority of individuals live on $1.25 per-day.  Prior to Malaika there was one school for boys, no access to clean water for over 3km, no vocational or recreational programs.  Through our community and parents’ councils, Malaika has worked with the community to build the Malaika School and the Kalebuka Football for Hope Center, while also drilling wells and providing health outreach. The programs in Kalebuka are a direct result of the expressed needs of community members and many participants have become employees and volunteers in programs they helped create.  First and foremost, the Malaika School serves 346 girls by providing them with high quality education and two meals a day. At the Kalebuka Football for Hope Center, our adult education and community outreach programs serve 6,000 Kalebuka residents per year. We provide adults with literacy education, financial skills, and business training to encourage people to become self-sufficient. We also run an organic farming program. This not only provides healthy and sustainable food for our school, but also teaches sustainable farming techniques. Our wells have provided water access to 30,000 people. 

The problems facing Kalebuka residents, especially the women and girls we reach speak directly to the Elevate Prize dimension selected above. We are working to create access to education and self-empowerment for people who are largely forgotten by the rest of the world. Malaika is  working to build opportunities for people who have none. Improving the education of children and adults alike is the first step toward improving the rights, health, and economic opportunities for an entire community.

The origins of this project come from my own experience as well as lessons learned through the work of Malaika. Since the beginning, we have always grappled with how our focus on one village can change the world. We elected to work in Kalebuka after many conversations with the village to understand their needs and believe by perfecting our work in one place, we can create a model for others.  To this end, we will remain focused on Kalebuka. At the same time, we recognize our struggles are not unique. This project gives us the tools to relate to other communities, broaden our impact, while not forgetting our roots and remaining focused on our main priority - the people of Kalebuka. 

I created Malaika as a way to give back, hoping that the talented and visionary people of Kalebuka will have a chance to build a better life for themselves and their families. We have been able to do more with each passing year, talking to the community and refining our approach.  With our success, we’re looking to share our experiences with others by creating the tools to replicate our work.

Malaika’s work is the passion of my life. I deeply relate to the girls at the Malaika School because I see myself in them. A series of events set forth in my early life took me out of the DRC. Through my mother’s sacrifice to send me abroad, I was able to get a good education, learn business, become a model and mother, and have had many wonderful opportunities. I understand what it’s like to overcome adversity. At the same time, children shouldn’t need to leave their communities to access basic needs. I also know what it’s like to be helped along the way. I am grateful to everyone who has helped me. Every time I talk with one of our amazing students, I see boundless potential waiting to be unlocked. We are drawn together through our shared heritage and I am grateful to be able to help make our community a better place.

Malaika’s success would not be possible without the incredibly talented staff and the generous support of our donors. The success of Malaika has become a movement spanning the globe. Sharing our work and inspiring people to join our cause fuels my passion for Malaika.

Malaika is extraordinarily well positioned to impact the Kalebuka residents and help replicate our success elsewhere. Through the experience of creating and building up Malaika, I fully appreciate the nerve required to not only have a vision, but step out, advocate  and inspire others to join the cause. Having gone through the process of taking that step, I want all of us at Malaika to push ourselves to do even better, reach more people, and prepare our students for a rewarding adulthood.  I would like to make it easier for other communities to do the same and share in our success. Malaika staff know well that there are other communities close to us and throughout the world that would greatly benefit from a version of Malaika. We look forward to sharing this vision with willing communities and prospective funders. 

Malaika has built a stellar team and reputation in executing our mission. The effort to create a toolkit and develop the ability to work with others in replicating our model, we believe has tremendous potential.

At age five, my father died.  My mother, no longer able to provide or ensure I received an education made the difficult decision to send me to Europe to live with relatives. It would be 13 years before I saw her again.  While I am incredibly grateful for the sacrifice she made, living without her for such a significant portion of my life was challenging and impacted my worldview.  When I returned to see my mother, I saw the reason she made her decision.  Girls my age were denied education; many were already married with children.  I resolved to help the girls and women of my community access the education and economic opportunities that should be their birthright.  As I became a successful model, I used the connections I made around the world to build my vision, and establish Malaika.  

That Malaika not only exists, but also thrives is also an unlikely story. We have overcome many obstacles, financial difficulties, construction delays, and all kinds of administrative problems.  Today a global pandemic is disrupting our classes and services. Nonetheless we are rising to the occasion and adapting as needed.

I proudly point to the Malaika Model as a testament to my leadership ability. It has truly been a journey starting an organization out of nothing, in a community with almost no resources. 

My success as Malaika’s leader, has been rooted in my ability to recognize where I need help and embracing a variety of perspectives. When I started, I had the desire to give back to my community and the resources to get something started. I did not have the expertise to comprehensively identify the needs of the people of Kalebuka. I did not have experience establishing and maintaining an accredited primary and secondary school. To grow Malaika, I needed to share my idea with leaders and experts to help shape it into something tangible and measurable. 

Malaika’s success depended on my ability to seek out the resources and expertise we needed. Forming Malaika’s Board, our Advisory Board, and creating a Global Ambassador Program are all examples of us seeking the help of others. The essential skill of a leader centers on surrounding yourself with smart, compassionate, and committed people. 

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We see this project as innovative because it will allow us to remain true to our original goals while engaging meaningfully with similar communities across the continent. As our Malaika Model team works to perfect our programs in Kalebuka, they will also identify communities with potential to replicate our organization. As these organizations grow, we will also be able to take lessons learned from these new partnerships and improve our own programming in Kalebuka. 

The Malaika model will open new opportunities that enable us to approach funders with our new partners. We ultimately see the innovation lying in the creation of an organizational community, where we can teach and learn from others who adopt the Malaika Model. Thinking long term, a network of Malaika seeded schools and community centers will allow for collaboration between students from different communities and to coordinate higher education opportunities for future alumni.

Malaika is supporting the development of Kalebuka through education, gender equity, and community empowerment.  Malaika is creating a future in which:

• Girls in Kalebuka are empowered to imagine and pursue a life in which they can thrive, choose their own destinies, and make change in their communities. Girls and boys work together and view each other as equals.

• Women are self-authoring and exercise leadership in the home, community, and broader world, reshaping traditional gender roles and solving tough development challenges.

• Households have sustainable income sources and provide a stable environment to grow, learn, and thrive.  Improved livelihoods make households capable of withstanding unexpected shocks (illness of parent or child, temporary loss of income).

• Kalebuka has abundant resources and strong institutions.  Women and men are connected and engaged, and have access to the tools they need to achieve sustainable livelihoods and lead prosperous and fulfilling lives. 

• DRC has a successful model of village development through gender equity and community empowerment.

  We achieve measurable progress in each of these areas through the following activites: 
  

  • Providing primary and secondary education to women and girls. 
  • Providing adult education programming to our students’ parents and members of the community. 
  • Provide community empowerment programming through sports activities at our community center.
  • Grow and distribute organic food and teach sustainable farming. 
  • Develop and maintain wells to ensure close water access

  
  

There are three essential numbers that Malaika uses to count the people we serve. 

346 Malaika School Students

6,000 people served at our community center

30,000 Kalebuka residents with access to water through Malaika’s wells. 

Within the next 2 - 3 years we hope to expand our school to 450 students. We also hope to expand our programming to accommodate more members of the community. Our priority at the moment is maintaining 6,000 people per year and sustaining the wells that serve 30,000 Kalebuka residents. We do not have conclusive projects at this time related to increases in services, outside the projection for the school. 

In a year from now, we hope to be well under way working with one or more new partner communities to replicate the Malaika Model. Five years from now, we hope to have a network of organizations seeded and working in their communities. These other organizations will be vital in helping us exchange experiences and pool resources in order to better serve our respective communities. 

Back in Kalebuka, the school will graduate our first class within the next three years. As such, we are preparing and updating our curriculum to ensure our students are adequately prepared for university and technical school. We will also make sure they have the resources they need to continue their studies after Malaika and become emerging young leaders and professionals. We are working on a Higher Education program plan to meet these needs and developing a fundraising campaign to support it. 

The struggle to raise funds continues and always looms as a potential barrier to meet our full potential. Nonetheless, we have overcome this challenge so far. We also currently lack the capacity to replicate our model and evaluate that elsewhere. This grant will allow us to further professionalize our workforce both in Kalebuka and around the work. We will enhance the skills 

The political instability of DRC has also contributed to a lack of multinational investment and community development. The effects of this bear out in the needs of the people we serve at the school and center. 

Most recently, the COVID-19 global pandemic has forced us to close our school and suspend our programming at the Center. We have adapted our programs in a variety of ways to accommodate these circumstances. We are checking in on students, providing food to the community, and distributing malaria safety equipment.

We see the Malaika Model project as contributing to our sustainability and overcoming the barriers that an uncertain future can produce.  Allowing us to market our services and to communities and funders will generate funding for our work both in Kalebuka and elsewhere. We expect this program to become a source of income, both for fundraising and as a fee for service model. We also see strength in numbers. Fostering a network of partner organizations will further validate our model. It will allow us to deploy our evaluation metrics across multiple organizations, allowing us to compare data in a profound new way. It will also create a learning community of mutual support where we learn from one another and pool resources. 

It remains a challenge to identify local partners to collaborate with on Malaika’s work. Most of our successful partnerships to date have centered on Malaika as the local implementor benefiting from support of international organizations such as Coaches Across Continents who provide training and support to our staff, allowing us to expand our reach and also increase the number of girls and women involved in sports and leadership development. We have worked occasionally with Kinshasa based FHI/360 to build the skills of our trainers in sexual and reproductive health. The Association of Women Doctors of Haut-Katanga has provided health services in collaboration with our community center as well. We are also working with tech partners such as ART Computers to implement our STEM educational programming and train our teachers.

We have numerous current partners who collaborate with us on programming at the community center such as: Streetfootballworld, Common Goal, and Soccer without Borders. Examples of funding partners include The Laureus Foundation and the Legacy Trust. 

Malaika is impacting thousands of lives and transforming an entire community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo through enhanced access to education, water, and healthcare. We’re teaching girls to question and engage and to evolve into progressive leaders who can positively affect their villages, their country, and even their world. And we’re giving adults a space to reinvent and reimagine their lives, too.

Our most direct beneficiaries are the people we serve, starting with our students and program participants. Added beneficiaries include those who have access to the wells and sanitation facilities we have built throughout the village. 

We conduct these programs at our facilities in Kalebuka. An integral part of our business model is having a physical place where people can come, access programs and services and cultivate undiscovered talents. Through our work, at our campus, we are working to improve the health and economic indicators of the entire village

The residents of Kalebuka have asked for the programming we offer. This comes from a recognition that in order to lift the village, they need to lift up each other, women and girls specifically. Our approach also recognizes that the best chance of educating our girls includes educating the parents too, which is why we offer adult learning at the center. Our business model also recognizes that in order to educate our students, we need to meet many other needs too, including access to food, health information and resources. 

The Malaika Model will be a fee for service program.  NGOs or Foundations will pay fees to Malaika for the toolkit as well as consulting support.  Overall, Malaika relies on the gifts, large and small from our committed cadre of individual donors. We also receive grant support from several institutions and foundations each year. We hold fundraising events several times throughout the year and maintain a sponsorship program where individuals can support the education of individual students. Finally, Malaika is in the process of establishing an endowment that will ensure our long-term sustainability.

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We hope to raise additional funds through grant support. Eventually we would like to create a fee-for-service model to compensate our team for the technical support from our partner organizations. 

Malaika’ budgeted expenses for 2020 are $542,415.  This project will add approximately $90,000 to our current expenses in new staff, consultants, travel, and additional overhead expenses.  

Malaika works in a country and community that is traditionally overlooked.  Many donors and foundations avoid investing in the Democratic Republic of Congo due to the misguided belief that it is unstable and their funds would not make a significant impact. Despite this we continually overcome barriers and have been successful in working with the people of Kalebuka to provide them with the tools they need and want in order to become empowered and self-sufficient. The Elevate Prize will have a huge impact not just on Kalebuka but in communities across the continent who experience similar barriers.  I know the potential that exists in Kalebuka, the DRC, and the entire African continent and we can use these funds to support communities in order to create deep and meaningful change. Additionally, I believe that this project will help us perfect our Malaika Model at home in Kalebuka. The team that will be supported with these financial resources will directly impact our efforts to improve our program infrastructure and better serve the residents of Kalebuka. In turn, this will help us to refine our Malaika Model Toolkit and to help other communities implement the programs we have developed. 

As we develop a team of experts to help us with our plans to replicate our model, we would welcome any and all insight mentors or technical experts ELEVATE could provide. We would specifically welcome support in scaling the Malaika Model and developing our fee for service structure.

We are in the process of identifying partners for this project. At this point, nothing has been finalized. Our ideal partners at this time are similar community based organizations with a desire to scale up Malaika Model programming in their communities. To support our work in Kalebuka, we would like to develop partnerships that bring in educational expertise to help train our teachers and continually improve our curriculum. We would also welcome partnership with organizations or programs that have an expertise in evaluation.