Kenya Connect Empowers!

Students in rural Kenyan public schools are being left behind.  Rote teaching, the lack of digital learning, limited resources, and pandemic school shutdowns have deepened the education divide.  At the heart of KC's Empowered School Program is engaging teachers as a Professional Learning Community to improve teaching methodology to create dynamic and interactive classrooms.  Meeting weekly, teachers are learning together using the Commonwealth Education Trust (CET) Teach 2030 program via their smartphones.  This program nurtures students' curiosity and creativity and encourages teachers to view all students as capable of learning.  Adding digital resources including a laptop, projector, and a content rich device allows teachers to utilize simulations, videos, and on-line resources to further engage students.  This coupled with KC's School Library Days, STEM Computer Classes, and LitMoms and LitClubs are propelling students to excel in school and become engaged learners. 

For many Kenyans seeking to have the best education for their children, private academies have been an expensive solution. By digging deeper into their pockets, parents believe that their children will be at a competitive edge if they go to private schools. Generally, private academies perform better in national exams than their counterparts in public schools. The irony is that the teachers in both academies and public schools go through the same teacher training colleges and have roughly the same qualifications. Why then do academies do better than public schools? Part of the reason is due to lack of essential resources and continuous professional development in the classrooms. Does this mean all Kenyans seeking the best education for their children have to follow the route for academies?  Building more academies will only benefit a small population of students whose parents can afford to pay the high fees continuing to leave out 70% of learners most who live in rural areas. The solution lies in empowering teachers in public schools and providing them with more resources; a model that Kenya connect is piloting in four public primary schools in Mwala sub-county.

The Empowered School Program is revitalizing teaching in rural Wamunyu.  In the recently released KCPE scores, students at KC's four Empowered Schools had a mean score of 303  vs. a mean score of 268 for other partner schools.  Quite simply, improved teacher professional learning, access to library books, interactive LevelUp Village STEM classes, LitClubs, and an engaged community of teachers, students and parents is making the difference.  Each school has a professional learning community (PLC) with teachers learning new techniques via Zoom workshops and through the Commonwealth Education Trust (CET) Teach 2030 program.  Working as colleagues, teachers are fostering hands-on learning with students working in collaborative groups to discuss and solve problems.  Providing access to books for check out and LitClubs encourage students to learn through the power of stories.  Moms engaged in the LitMom program are learning ways to support their learners while becoming learners themselves.  Adding technology where students have access to chrome books or tablets and aiding them in becoming digital learners are allowing them to be part of the technology boom in Kenya.  Giving teachers, parents and students HOPE through the well-designed, comprehensive and interactive Empowered School Program is transforming education in a rural community.

“Knowledge is power. Information is liberating. Education is the premise of progress, in every society, in every family” Kofi Anan.  Walking 2-5km to school each day, students in rural Kenya are bright and eager to learn, but their schools lack even the most basic resources and their teachers are challenged with big classes and meager educational materials. Their parents are wood carvers, subsistence farmers, market mamas and day laborers. Without electricity or internet at home, students eagerly go to school in the hope of learning; however their school classrooms are a far cry than their peers at private academies or in more urban areas.  

Locally-led Kenya Connect works with 62 partner public schools to strengthen education for these learners, most who are living in extreme poverty.  We listen to the Head Teachers, teachers and parents when they share concerns and challenges.  When Head Teachers told us girls were missing schools during their menses, we created Wings Poa, a Reusable Sanitary Pad and menstrual health program. As they have expressed concerns that their students who were struggling with English and writing, we expanded our library program and are bringing books to distant schools twice a month for check out.  When the Kenyan government included digital literacy as part of the curriculum, teachers came to us and said, "We need help. Can you teach our students basic computer skills in your labs and can you teach us?"  We have also heard the cry from the teachers that they need guidance on how to teach more effectively along with a request for even the most basic school supplies so they can better teach science, math, and other subjects. 

Parents are also a key component of our programs.  When we launched the Empowered School pilot program we invited the parent management committee to be part of the discussions.  We asked for their support and guidance in launching the program.  The LitMoms Empowerment Program nurtures mothers and grandmothers to be learners too.  They learn about the importance of reading, participate in Read Aloud stories and work as a group to develop ways to foster their children's love of learning.  At the same time, they are developing ways to earn an income and save money.

The key to our success is that our dedicated and passionate team have deep relationships in the community.  Most grew up in rural communities in conditions similar to our students.  We know the challenges and we have seen education as a means to good health, prosperity, and an enriched life. We know how to listen to concerns and to discern what is needed. When we determine a true need, we research and carefully craft solutions.  Some are programs that we have developed while others are with trusted partners including LevelUp Village, the Commonwealth Education Trust, and LitWorld. 

Some of our solutions are basic, "turn and talk," the use of drama to illustrate a lesson, or finding pebbles to illustrate the maths concept of "tens" are ones that teachers are incorporating into lessons.  Embracing new modes of methodology and working as a professional learning community through CET's Teach2030 are helping teachers.  At the same time, library days, STEM classes, LitClubs, and LitMoms are transforming students and teachers through activities that nurture creativity, critical thinking, collaboration and self-learning.  As a result students are becoming confident learners, teachers are engaged, and parents are eager to support learning.

In 2019, Kenya Connect launched it's first Empowered School at Sofia Primary School. After months of meeting with the Head Teachers, teachers, and parents.  They were engaged and excited to be the pilot school, and pledged to participate in professional learning, the library program and other enrichment opportunities.  They also agreed to provide feedback and to allow KC staff to observe their teaching and to monitor student scores.  The pilot was so successful, that we added three schools in 2020.  We are aiming to expand the program to additional schools in our community, especially through engaging teachers in the CET Teach2030 program, School Library Days, Digital Literacy Classes and other enrichment programs. We were especially heartened to see the improved KCPE scores.  The 18,000 students in our cluster of schools should not be left behind.  Locally supported, well-run and comprehensive strategies can make a difference in learning.

Many solutions to strengthen education in Kenya come from external groups. Researchers, educators and philanthropists from outside the country develop solutions that they believe will make a difference.  Some do, but often lack true buy-in and fade away after several years.  Our solution is innovative since it comes from the community.  Our team on the ground has worked with schools for almost twenty years and has developed a comprehensive strategy to strengthen education through better training of teachers, providing digital resources and library books for students, and incorporating parents as part of the solution.  Building relationships and trust with school communities is at the cornerstone of our work.

Relationships also extend to key partnerships with educators in other parts of the world.  Partnering with LevelUp Village to provide dynamic STEM classes, working with the Commonwealth Education Trust to provide "bite-sized" professional learning classes designed for African teachers and celebrating literacy by partnering with LitWorld to provide LitClubs and LitMoms allow us to incorporate well-developed classes and curriculum into our programs by members of our team.  Other initiatives like School Library Days, The Reading Challenge, Radio Read Aloud, and computer training were developed and led by our staff.

The Empowered School model works because all stakeholders (parents, teachers, students, and village leaders) are part of the solution.  Combining multiple Kenya Connect programs together and supporting teachers with training and resources is making a difference for rural students.  We are already seeing students at the Empowered Schools receiving higher marks.  

Kenya Connect's Empowered School Program currently serves 1,000 students and 75 teachers at 4 schools.  We plan to scale up in 2022 to serve another 1,000 students and 75 teachers.  If awarded funding, in five years we plan on serving 30 partner schools representing 9,000 students and 250 teachers. Empowering these rural schools will be a game changer for learning! We will also share the program framework with students in the School of Education for Southeastern Kenya University (SEKU).  This will provide training to the next generation of teachers which will impact even more students.

What is most important to us is that we see lasting change in teaching and learning vs. having a "new technology" introduced on a large scale by an outside partner that does not have buy-in by the community and little support to ensure long-term viability.  We have seen this with other outside partners who have introduced programs that have fallen by the wayside.  True change needs local leadership and stewardship to ensure long-term success.

As mentioned earlier, Kenya Connect monitors and evaluates our progress.

We are currently measuring:

• KCPE Scores and KCSE scores.  We look at the schools who receive various programs and those that don't as well as Kenya Connect partner schools as compared to schools in the subcounty and county
• We also review scores based on schools that are part of our library program and those who do not
• We observe teachers in the classroom who are participating in the PLC program to see how they are incorporating what they have learned into the classroom
• We regularly administer questionnaires to teachers to garner their feedback on a professional learning session 
• Partners like LUV, LitWorld and CET provide their research with us and help us with program implementation and in gathering data to measure success
• We also monitor attendance of girls at schools in which Wings Poa have been distributed
• We garner feedback from teachers about students who participate in LitClubs and LUV programs

Since our team is on the ground and have close relationship with the schools and community, teachers feel safe to provide honest feedback instead of "what they think we want to hear."

Kenya Connect has 12 full-time staff who work on our solutions as well as members of the U.S. Board of Trustees.  In addition, staff members from LevelUp Village, the Commonwealth Education Trust, and LitWorld work closely with our team on the solutions.

Kenya Connect has a rockstar team.  All members of the staff are from Kenya and know first-hand the challenges that students face in rural Kenya.  They grew up in similar conditions and worked hard to obtain a higher level of education.  Having a locally-led and connected staff ensures that there is buy-in within the community.  At the same time, our team is open to new ideas and have worked effectively with partners in the U.S., UK and Kenya.  Our team is creative, dedicated, hard working and nimble in making ideas become a reality and ensuring their success. 

We also work in partnership with our US Board.  We are especially proud that three members of that board grew up in Kenya in communities similar to ours.  As a result, they help guide us in strategic planning and thinking and have introduced us to solutions that would benefit our community.  Currently we are conducting a "visioning" planning program so we can thoughtfully build our future. It's not the US board directing our course, it our staff working in a thoughtful and deliberative way to ensure that our programs are authentic, what the community needs, and sustainable.

Partners and foundations tell us that we are one of their most successful, consistent and successful partners since we follow through on what we say we will do.  We are proud of that recognition and grateful that funders have consistently supported us.

As mentioned earlier, our team is locally-led by Co-Founder James Musyoka.  We have worked to build our staff to include 7 women and 5 men.  We have added the women staff to ensure that girls have role models and to incorporate women's voices and ideas on how to facilitate change into our work.

It has also been important to have members of our US board be from Kenya as well as from different business sectors in the U.S.  We have engineers, business leaders and educators among our board.

Our Kenyan staff works effectively together and meets weekly to discuss programs.  All voices are heard as they model a collaborative workplace.  They also work with local education and health officials, other NGO partners in Kenya and participate in webinars with GlobalGiving, KICD, KCDF, the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi and other groups working in Africa to ensure we are following best practice and to learn about other solutions that might benefit our community.

We would be honored to be selected as a MIT Solver.  We are applying for this program because we are committed to improving public education in rural Kenya.  We believe that local leadership and solutions that are developed within the community are essential to long-term success. The MIT Solve program will provide us with a network of professionals working in the education and digital space to help us improve our work to empower even more students and teachers.  We are eager to hear suggestions and to incorporate new ideas if feasible within our context. We also believe we have learned a great deal through our work and can be an inspiration to others with our solutions.  Working effectively with partners, Kenya Connect has developed a program which is helping teachers to be more effective while engaging students in new modes of learning.  The award funds will be helpful and will help us leverage additional funds from foundations and individuals for the Empowered School Program.

Working in rural Kenya means that we are not always aware of the latest digital innovation or the best hardware/software solutions.  We would welcome MIT SOLVE partners to review our current technology solutions and to share ideas for future acquisitions.  We would also welcome conversations about internet accessibility.

Our team has worked diligently to collect data and to evaluate our programs.  We suspect there are other measurement tools and frameworks we could be using to ascertain success and to measure the results of our work.

Finally, we would be interested in additional board members who could bring knowledge on income generation and digital solutions for rural communities.

We would welcome the opportunity to work with MIT faculty, doctoral students or undergraduates to help us with the Empowered School project or other universities interested in education for students in Africa.  However, we have found long-term partnerships are more successful than "one-off" experiences.  We know that partners from the US and UK have been in awe of our staff and have worked successfully with them.