Kenya Equity in Education Project (KEEP Project)

  • P Project/Program

I Inactive

Key Information

With the KEEP Project, the Girl Child Network recognizes that girls and children with disabilities in ASAL regions (Kajiado and Turkana Counties) in Kenya face barriers in access to education. The KEEP project seeks to reduce/eliminate these barriers in three levels; the individual level, the school level and the community level through strategies such as social mobilization, sensitization and awareness creation, advocacy, direct support, capacity building and community conversations. The interventions are designed and implemented to provide thousands of children in ASAL regions with access to clean water, improved sanitation and hygiene as well as knowledge on their rights and responsibilities as a means to protect them from abuse. The Girl Child Network work with the national government, county governments, schools, families and communities to create safe spaces for children to learn, be protected and nurtured to thrive, irrespective of their age, gender or disability. They also partner with schools, families and communities to train teachers, school boards of management, children and the youth to ensure we leave no one out. In addition to this, they also conduct extensive awareness exercises to underscore the importance of education with a view of changing the community attitudes on girls and children with disabilities participation in education. Provision of a feeding programme in the project schools helps retain children in school and also ensures  drought does not negate the impact of the project on empowerment of girls and women.


Lead Implementing Organization(s)

Location(s)

Sub-Saharan Africa

Kenya

Government Affiliation

Non-governmental program

Years

2017 - 2022

Partner(s)

Aidlink, NomadLink, OPPEI, Africa Voices Foundation, Film Aid, White Ribbon Alliance

Ministry Affiliation

Unknown

COVID-19 Response

Unknown

Geographic Scope

National

Meets gender-transformative education criteria from the TES  

Unknown

Areas of Work Back to Top

Education areas

Attainment

  • Primary completion
  • Primary enrollment
  • Primary to secondary transition
  • Secondary completion
  • Secondary Enrollment

Other skills

  • Life skills/sexuality education
  • Rights/empowerment education
  • Social and emotional learning

Quality

  • Curricula/lesson plans
  • School quality
  • School-related gender-based violence
  • Teacher training

Skills

  • Literacy
  • Numeracy
  • Other academic performance-related

Cross-cutting areas

  • Adolescent pregnancy/childbearing
  • Community sensitization
  • Early/child marriage
  • Emergencies and protracted crises
  • Empowerment
  • Gender equality
  • Masculinities/boys
  • Menstrual hygiene management
  • Mentorship
  • Migration
  • Nutrition
  • Other cultural practices
  • Social and gender norms and beliefs
  • WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene)

Program participants

Target Audience(s)

Boys (both in school and out of school), Girls (both in school and out of school), Youth

Age

Not applicable or unknown

School Enrolment Status

Some in school

School Level

  • Lower primary
  • Upper primary
  • Lower secondary
  • Upper secondary

Other populations reached

  • Community leaders
  • Fathers
  • Mothers
  • Other caregivers
  • Other community members - female
  • Other community members - male
  • Other family members
  • Parent-teacher associations/school management committees
  • Religious leaders
  • School administrators
  • Teachers - female
  • Teachers - male

Participants include

  • Displaced/refugee - External (from other countries)
  • Indigenous
  • People with disabilities

Program Approaches Back to Top

Community engagement/advocacy/sensitization

  • Community mobilization
  • General awareness-raising/community engagement
  • Parent Teacher Associations (PTA)
  • School management committees

Curriculum/learning

  • Gender-sensitive curricula
  • Increased availability of learning materials
  • Remedial education/skills

Educational Technology

  • Digital learning materials/programs

Facilities construction/improvement

  • Construction/improvement of schools

Food/nutrition

  • School feeding

Health and childcare services

  • Referrals to health services

Life skills education

  • Gender, rights and power

Mentoring/psychosocial support

  • Peer mentors
  • School-based counselors

Other

  • Informational interventions (e.g. returns to education)

Policy/legal environment

  • Advocating changes to existing laws/policies

Reducing economic barriers

  • Scholarships/stipends for school fees
  • Unconditional cash transfers (including non-cash goods) to individuals/households

School-related gender-based violence

  • Safe and welcoming schools
  • Safe channels/mechanisms for reporting violence
  • Support in and around schools (e.g. peer counseling, adult-to-student counseling)
  • Training of school personnel (including teachers)

Social/gender norms change

  • Engaging parents/caregivers of students or school-age children/adolescents
  • Group activities with students or school-age children/adolescents
  • Media campaigns
  • Work with community leaders
  • Work with religious leaders

Teaching

  • In-service teacher training – pedagogy general

Tutoring/strengthening academic skills

  • Literacy - in the classroom
  • Literacy - outside the classroom
  • Numeracy - in the classroom
  • Numeracy - outside the classroom
  • Tutoring - general

Water and sanitation

  • Improved water access

Women's empowerment programs

  • Advocacy/action

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Program Goals Back to Top

Education goals

  • Improved academic skills (literacy and numeracy)
  • Improved social and emotional learning/skills and mindsets
  • Increased literacy
  • Increased primary school completion
  • Increased progression to secondary school
  • Increased re-enrolment in school among out-of-school children
  • Increased school completion (general)
  • Increased school enrolment (general)
  • Increased test scores
  • Reduced absenteeism

Cross-cutting goals

  • Changed social norms
  • Improved critical consciousness
  • Increased agency and empowerment
  • More equitable gender attitudes and norms
  • Reduced school-related gender-based violence (SRGBV)

Additional Information Back to Top

Primary Contact

Mary Kwena
World University Service of Canada (WUSC)
Project Manager
mkwena@wusc.ca