The JMAA Foundation

Health | Education | Livelihood

A Beginning...

Honouring A Matriarch, Building A Legacy
The Jane Mildred Akoth Adewa Foundation is a US-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization born from a promise. Established in honor of Jane Adewa, who passed away from breast cancer on May 26, 2012, the foundation transforms personal loss into systemic change. Jane was a woman who believed deeply in the power of prevention, the liberation of education, and the dignity of economic self-sufficiency. Operating at the intersection of health, literacy, and livelihood, we focus on the rural regions of Ugenya and Siaya in Kenya- areas rich in potential but underserved in infrastructure. We are not starting from scratch; we are reviving a legacy.

What We Do

Anchored by three pillars that mirror the three priorities Jane championed throughout her life:  We are saving lives through preventative health, opening minds through accessible education, and strengthening families through economic empowerment. Every programme we design, every partnership we build, and every dollar we raise is in service of those three ideals- and in honour of the woman who first articulated them.

Prevention & Awareness

Saving Women’s Lives Through Preventative Cancer Care. Breast and cervical cancer are among the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among Kenyan women. The tragedy is that both are highly preventable and treatable when detected early. The vast majority of deaths occur not because treatment is unavailable- but because women are never screened.

Centre of Knowledge

Access to information is the most democratising force in any community. Yet in rural Kenya, most children have never owned a book outside a textbook. Educational platforms on the internet remain inaccessible to the majority. We believe that a child who reads widely, researches freely, and is exposed to ideas beyond their immediate horizon will carry that capacity for the rest of their lives and ripple it through their families, schools and communities.

Self- Sufficiency

Unlocking Self-Sufficiency and Wealth Creation for Women and Youth Poverty in Ugenya and Siaya is not the result of a lack of intelligence, creativity or work ethic. It is the result of structural barriers: limited access to capital, markets, business knowledge and networks. When you equip a rural woman or young person with micro-enterprise skills, seed capital and peer support, you do not just change one life- you change a household, and often a generation.