To empower African families and communities to protect, educate and nurture their own children — through locally led, patiently funded restoration programmes.
Established 2012 · Nairobi
Restoring dignity where it matters most.
Agano is the Swahili word for covenant — a binding promise between people. That promise is at the heart of everything we do: we walk with children, families and communities for as long as it takes.
The narrative of change
Agano began in 2012 when three Nairobi schoolteachers walked away from an orphanage that was doing more harm than good. They had watched too many children "graduate" out of institutional care with nothing — no family, no community, no foothold.
They started over with a simple question: what would it take to keep a child with their family in the first place? The answer turned out to be unglamorous and slow — meals, school fees, a counsellor, a steady mentor, sometimes a roof or a goat.
Twelve years later, that same patient model runs in 14 African countries. Every programme is led by people from the community it serves, and every shilling is publicly accounted for.
Mission & Vision
The promise behind the work.
An Africa in which every child belongs to a family, every family belongs to a community, and every community possesses the agency to sustain its own future.
Operating principles
Seven principles, non-negotiable.
These are the rules of engagement between us and every community we work with. They are also the lines we will not cross to grow faster.
Family first
Children belong in families. Institutional care is a last resort, never a default.
Community always
Every hub is conceived, governed and staffed by the community it serves.
Dignity, not charity
We do not save anyone. We walk alongside people already saving themselves.
Patient capital
Restoration takes a decade. Our commitments are measured in generations.
Public by default
Programs, outcomes and finances are open. Critique us; replicate us.
Outcomes over outputs
We track what changes for the child, not what it cost us to do.
Locally rooted, globally accountable
African leadership at every level; rigorous reporting to every partner.
Partner with us
Join the restoration movement.
Our partners, donors and volunteers make the work possible. Become part of the next decade.