ECO-FRIENDLY SELF HELP PROJECT

Mission:

Holistic development of persons to ensure a well developed, pro-active, confident, innovative and ambitious individual, ready to fit in the modern world of work.
Vision:
To  enhance confidence and spark individual’s ambition to excel.
Core values:
Promote integrity,cohesion, good interpersonal relationship and respect.
Our team undertakes functional activities with meaningful steps towards supporting neglected,vulnerable children with learning disabilities.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Eco-friendly self-help group is registered with Ministry of East African Community, Labour and Social Protection in 2018, as a charitable (non-profit) and tax exempted organization run by a team of volunteers. 

Objectives

• To support education of the less fortunate, the vulnerable and orphans.
• To collaborate with local stakeholders and teachers to empower girls and young women to know & learn to defend their rights and harmoniously co-exist with caregivers.
• To empower girls & women on coaching, computer packages, Bio-intensive gardening entrepreneurial skills, support replicable & viable projects
• To provide football equipment, engage girls & women in football in the 5 primary schools involve administrators, games teachers in football programme to assist the 5 trainers.

About Eco-friendly team

Eco-friendly group constitutes focused and active professionals in diverse fields of Teaching, football coaching, Guiding & counselling/psycho-support and health, human rights advocates.

Activities

• Supporting  education of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children (OVC)
• Community empowerment & sensitization on sustainable development
• Guiding and counselling  & Nurturing talents
• Environmental conservation
• Skill training on ICT, Bio-intensive gardening & Entrepreneurial  through workshops and On-farm training

Target audience/project beneficiaries

• Orphans and vulnerable children between age 2-12 years
• Single Mothers/fathers
• Adults with no/not enough formal education

Problems  to be addressed

92% of inhabitants are under sensitized rural peasants with < $2 a day. Abject poverty & drug abuse scales up immorality, broken families hence high number of neglected children, poor performance in academics, lack of school fees, malnutrition, hunger, pauperism, teenage pregnancy. In Yala Level 4 Hospital, 21% of antenatal care attendees are adolescents aged 10-12. Girls dropping out of school, Defilement, incest and SGBV cases are very high. Gem has highest HIV prevalent rate of 24%, above National level which is 5%.

Charles Nyabola is the founder of Eco-Friendly Self-help Project. He's the organization's contact person Oversee the project activities and directly Coordinate, manage, supervise operations, develops strategies and mobilize resources to promote the mission of the organizations and build a strong team of leaders. Proven ability to capture opportunities for growth and establish lucrative relationships with key partners/stakeholders Mobilised funding from Japan Water Forum (JWF) for construction and protection of Kogoma Spring water ( #239) at Ligoma village.

An educator and trainer Mobilized funding from Better place Organization to support training of local farmers, community groups, schools, young farmers associations and clubs on Sustainable Agriculture (Bio-intensive Agriculture- B.IA.)

Charles is trained in the following areas:
Teaching (at Kaimosi Teachers’ College)in 2008.
 Bio-Intensive Agriculture and Community development at Manor House Agricultural Centre Kitale. A replicate of Ecology Action of Willits California. (2001).
Guiding and counseling psychology at Career Centre -Nairobi.
Charles is serving as an educator/teacher in Maliera, public primary schools since 2016. Dealing with children aged between 3 to 13 years. Charles together with the four team members; Madam Serfine Oluga and Madam Edna , Donald and Jackline. The team dedicate 6 hours per week to support vulnerable children with learning disability in Numeracy, literacy and digital literacy.
Serfine and Edna have been working for over 10 years in Public Primary school with high enrollment rate, namely; Maliera and Malanga respectively. Both are well trained diploma holders in Early Childhood Development. Madam Edna Awuor has facilitated in several programmes targeting adolescents like the Dream Girl project’
The team has a wide scope to draw participants for LEAP, plenty of building infrastructures (public school and Church buildigs) and support from the local administration, Head of Institutions (HOIs), Parents, ten household leaders and the general public.
Charles is a secretry of Malanga teachers’ welfare and a facilitator of Competency Based Curriculum – (C.B.C)  training workshops – Siaya County, Malanga Zone since 2019. He has Trained More 212 teachers from 22 primary schools based in Malanga, through the programme jointly organized by Malanga Curriculum Support Officers (C.S.Os), Teachers Service Commission (T.S.C) in collaboration With Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (K.I.C.D). CBC is a new Curriculum being introduced in Kenya Education System to replace the previous   8.4.4    System of Education.  He mobilised funding from Japan Water Forum (JWF) for construction and protection of Kogoma Spring water ( #239) at Ligoma village. Visit this link for more informatonn (www.waterforum.jp/en/news/11867)   today 986 children, 410 women 325 men (1721 people) are beneftng from the project.  Initiated Football for Holistic Development (FOHODEP) in 2018 of which 21 vulnerable girls (aged 12- 18 years and young women) are currently enrolled in the programme.  Mobilizing resources for hygiene and sanitation on Covid 19 mitigation intervention in 2020. This enabled 32 households living in Ligoma village benefitted from bars soaps distributed by Eco-friendly Project team in collaboration with the Evidence Action International Organization  ( https://www.facebook.com/10000... ) 2. Coordinating New Ground for Organic Work - Training Programme  activities          (NGOW-TP) – (2007-2016) -Kisumu County.  Mobilized funding from Better place Organization to support training of local farmers, community groups, schools, young farmers associations and clubs on Sustainable Agriculture (Bio-intensive Agriculture- B.IA.) 830 people benefitted directly from the training.  Supervising 5 facilitators.Charles is the founder of New Ground for Organic Work in 2006.

Support improvement of numeracy and literacy skills in disadvantaged rural children with learning difficulties, low self esteem and peasantry background.

Gem Yala is endowed with academic institutions and spacious playgrounds but academic performance in numeracy and literacy is very low as shown by the year 2021-2022 baseline as low as 10.14% in grade 3 performance at Maliera primary school, in numeracy (addition and multiplication) and a baseline of 30.77% in literacy (number of words read correctly per minute). There are myriads of challenges that could be contributing to those effect. Some of the effects demands for empirical investigations.
92% of inhabitants are under sensitized rural peasants living with less $2 a day. Abject poverty & drug abuse scales up immorality, dysfunctional or broken families hence high number of neglected children, increased child labour, hunger, pauperism and teenage pregnancy. In Yala Level 4 Hospital, 21% of antenatal care attendees are adolescents aged 10-19 years, retrogressive cultural practices, defilement, high incest and Gender Based Violence (GBV) and discrimination. Gem has highest HIV prevalent rate of 24%, above National level which is 5%.
 
The ‘Star’ Zonal assessment score sheet for standard (grade) 8 of April, 2023 shows  a total of 66 (35 girls and 31 boys) sitting for Zonal test, only 3girls featured among the top ten! Mathematics had a mean score of  44.45% while English had 49.62%, Kiswahili - 47.17% and Science -43.18%. All these were below average performances.
 The effects of  communal retrogressive cultural practices also contributes to low performance in girls. The notion of  “Girl’s place is  the Kitchen” still reigns. Girls are entitled to all the house chores, fetching fired, water and participating in gardening activities. This has resulted into girls having inappropriate behevioural attitudes hence low abilities and poor output in assessment tests.

Parental involvement in child education is wanting and absenteeism rate in class attendance is high. Cases of learners coming to school without the basic items required to aid learning are rampant.

Compensatory coaching Programme:
Eco-friendly team will take 6 hours a week to engage weak learners in a more favourable and high quality and more favourable learning environment. Lots of learning resources will be utilized to develop cognitive skills and enhance curiosity.  
Focus will be maintained on individual child to carter for individual needs and more resources will be provided to support leaning at home.
Use of Supplementary readers, digital learning devices and online platforms will  be scaled up to Carter for individual needs.
Learners will be provide with  a series of ‘Sound and read’ books, supplementary numeracy materials and access to on-line learning platforms. Learning resources will be available in both hard copies and soft copy to learners so as to enhance digital literacy as well, through interacting with the Learners Digital Devices (LDD).
Psycho-support will be provided to learners to help them improve communication, confidence, behavior, and social-emotional skills.

Stakeholders engagement and support:
Parents, guardians and caregivers will play pivotal role in the success of the programme, hence they will be sensitized on how to support the learners materially and emotionally to boost the morale of learner and provide conducive environment for their children. This sensitization will be done through one on one interaction, chief’s Baraza, ten household leaders meetings, churches, common on-line platforms like Whats app and facebook. This will check on some of the parents irresponsible and radical beheviour that hinders performance.

Extra-curriculum activities and appropriate technology:
Learners will be engage in activities that enhances competencies and mental toughness like balls games- football.
Learners will be involve in life skill  and appropriate technology.

NOT APPLICABLE.

A sample test with five children  ( aged between 2 -12 years) was done during Covid-19 lock downs in Kenya. The children were provided with highly motivating learning environment and resources. They were coached on Literacy, numeracy and digital literacy using learner digital devises.
With the coaching at home, one who had never attended school managed to go direct to Pre-primary 1  in the year 2020 without necessarily passing through baby class. To-date he is in grade one. He can perfectly do 80% of grade 2 numeracy work, can read fluently and operate computer. Three of them are  reference points, leading their classmates during in numeracy discussion groups. One Vincent is proficient in Microsoft word and MS-Excel.
Parental engagement, motivation, involvement and support is very important in the a academic performance.

Day to day interaction with learners at a Primary with an enrollment of 982  learners revealed that majority of learners with below expectation ( below average ratings) are the neglected, learners with abnormal backgrounds. They are always absent minded in class and cannot concentrate in class due to prevailing conditions back home . These group of learners often lack  motivation, drive to excel, the basic items to aid learning ( exercise books and pens) and psycho-support. Parents or caregivers with low income and high birthrate (5-9 children)  are the worst hit and not able to carter for education of the children.
Some parents,  due to their illiteracy situation, they have negative attitude towards education, it is just due to unavoidable circumstances that their children are in school. They therefore don’t provide enabling environment that motivate a child to explore and learn.
Some children living with caregivers are  subjected to abuse (incest, child labour hence stigmatized and can’t  concentrate in classwork.

The solution provides conducive environment for learners to explore, making it more learners’ centred approach, Self driven,  pro-active and determined to face challenging tasks. Early intervention is needed for a child to succeed later in life. It is easier for a child to learn faster, comprehend schemes of things when the right resources and conducive environment are provided.
Giving learners feedback is very key in motivating a learner, a simple comment like ‘Good’, ‘Excellent’ works lyrics. A nod or a show of thump up motivate, stimulate and sparks learner’s ambition to excel. While blame brings about depressing effects in learners.
For a child to succeed, both caregiver and the teacher must cooperate Some of the more concerned parents or caregivers quest for our Eco-friendly team’s support (Compensatory coaching).
They are in the opinion that normal classroom teaching alone, is not enough due high enrollment rate with teacher to leaner ration at 1 is to 70 (1:70). Hence individualized attention may not be possible. Hence Eco-friendly solution come in handy to cater for their needs.

It is intended to enhance teacher support, parental involvement and supervision for  for development. Improved performance and effective curriculum implementation, it brio about commitment of the learners towards academic work.

Eco-friendly has plenty of building infrastructure and backing from stakeholders, but lack learning resources  like supplementary readers, numeracy books/materials, pens,pencils, geometrical sets, exercise books, crayons, counters, abacus, place value pockets, educative murals, marker pens, manila papers, flip charts, chalks, photocopying papers/reams, more digital learning devices, bundles and balls.

Going by poor performance shown by three neighbouring schools where by majority of learners are getting below expectations as reflected in the Kenya National  Examination Council''s portal.

Covid-19 Lockdowns contributed a lot this  poor performance on most of the school.

The ‘Star’ Zonal assessment score sheet for standard (grade) 8 of April, 2023 shows  a total of 66 (35 girls and 31 boys) sitting for Zonal test, only 3girls featured among the top ten! Mathematics had a mean score of  44.45% while English had 49.62%, Kiswahili - 47.17% and Science -43.18%. All these were below average performances.
 The effects of  communal retrogressive cultural practices also contributes to low performance in girls. The notion of  “Girl’s place is  the Kitchen” still reigns. Girls are entitled to all the house chores, fetching fired, water and participating in gardening activities. This has resulted into girls having inappropriate behevioural attitudes hence low abilities.

Engaging learners in leap projects will spark a lot of interest in pupils with learning disabilities and those who are emotionally depressed due lack of ability to excell in  numeracy and literacy.

1. What triggers the child's curiosity and desire to explore?

2.Do failure of the parents to live in reasonable harmony have impact in children performance in literacy and numeracy?

3' Is there any interference with mental development of a child when exposed at a tender age to cirgaret smoke? Or Bhang (Cannabis Sativa) smoke or solution which is still use traditional to cure measles in children in the   community?

.

During the 12-weeks Leap project, there will be consultative interaction with the learners. Parents and Eco-Friendly Project team.

The Leap fellows will be fully engaged to assist Eco-Friendly team in empirical investigations of the research queries.

During the 12 weeks sprints the LEAP Fellows may help eco-friendly to unravel the problem of academic dwarfism in children and if there is effects on the brain development on children in the use of bhang extract commonly used by the community to cure measles in children.
The fellows are also requested to sensitise Eco-friendly team on ways to handle leaners with learning difficulties, engage more on the resources that stimulates curiosity and enhance learning and retention of the learnt items.
 

After we’ve conducted the LLEAPSprint, we will be able to transform our findings into comprehensive reports. These reports can be shared with stakeholders through  sensitization , discussions with educational head institutions, Teachers' cluster ZONAL insets and online platform on our website, and within our application. Having our own data and reports will give parents and trusted recommenders greater confidence in our LEAP sprint and method. shared  it more widely within the communities they serve. Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that a larger population are provided with reputable research findings behind our compensatory coaching to learners with low performance in numeracy and literacy . So that Heads of Learning Institutions (HOIs) within the locality can  replicate the same in other primary schools

Short-term outcomes:
Increased parental support and involvement in children education.
Reduced truancy in attending lessons.
Fluency in reading
Increased  comprehension, working speed in solving numeracy problems and number of words read per minute.
Improved performance in mid and end term assessment
Long term outcomes:
Increased use of high order skills by learners
Reduced child abuse and irresponsible behaviour
Improved performance in National assessment in  October
Increased transition rate with meeting expectation grades