By Tamela Noboa
I recently had the privilege of spending time with some amazing students, parents, and school and community leaders in Kajiado and Wajir counties in Kenya.
I was inspired by their leadership and the innovative solutions they are implementing to make education possible for every child in their communities. Things such as:
✨ Door-to-door campaigns to bring hundreds of children back to school.
✨ Supporting teenage mothers in securing care for their babies and emotional support back in school.
✨ Mobilizing community resources to build new toilets and bore holes, and support school feeding programs.
Together students, parents and school leaders are overcoming significant obstacles to education and, more importantly, they are bringing hope, agency, and new opportunities for hundreds of thousands of children.
Here are just a few results of our mentorship program and community screenings of My Better World in Kenya:
✨ 583 new learners: One primary School in Kajiado County found 583 out-of-school children, brought them back to school, and secured local government resources for additional classrooms and teachers.
✨ 38 girls saved from early marriages: In a handful of schools in Kajiado County this year, 38 girls found new confidence to convince their families to cancel their intended early marriages so they could stay in school.
✨ Reducing teen pregnancies: A worrying increase in teen pregnancies was linked to motorbike drivers offering rides to girls to and from a remote school. Determined to change this, the school community banned girls from riding without a parent or guardian and enlisted support from the area chief and the police. The result? Not a single pregnancy in this school community has been reported in the last two terms.
Many thanks to the Global Innovation Fund for enabling Impact(Ed) to come alongside these communities, schools, and students as we support the Kenyan government’s national mentorship policy.
