February 2025
7 February 2025
What a fantastic start to 2025 for the Pharo Foundation.
My year began in Rwanda, a country I missed during our trustee visit in December. It was a pleasure to meet another team full of energy and commitment. I was especially proud to see our Teacher Capacity Building Programme progressing, with new mentors recruited to support public-school teachers in learning-through-play pedagogy at Pharo School Kigali.
January also marked a major milestone with the rollout of our new cloud-based ERP system, Project Simba, which will streamline operations and give us the scalability to grow efficiently and securely. Meanwhile, Somaliland Ventures had a strong start, with Ready-Mix Concrete sales exceeding expectations, and in Ethiopia construction at Assosa School remains on track and on budget, with our new Addis Ababa office now uniting development and ventures under one roof.
January is also the time for annual reviews and goal-setting, ensuring alignment across teams. I look forward to a strong February and continued progress across all our initiatives.
Thomas Mason, CEO, Pharo Foundation
Our Teacher Capacity Building pilot in Rwanda
In partnership with the Ministry of Education Rwanda and TEACH Rwanda, our Kigali pilot equipped 172 teachers and 48 school administrators from 16 public and community schools with play-based learning strategies.
Our Global Monitoring Framework
Our latest GMF report outlines our approach to programme design, monitoring and evaluation, a cornerstone of our commitment to accountability and impact, with data-driven outcomes and case studies.
Introducing the Afri-CAN podcast
We launched our new podcast series, Afri-CAN, bringing together academics, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and innovators to explore game-changing ideas shaping the continent’s future, with an introductory episode out now.