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When 6-year-old Louie is asked what his mother does, he says, “ My mother started an organization that really cares about children and young people. They care about them so much, that they support them in the things they love doing.” Through the eyes of Louie, one can step back and really see the “Big Picture”. Louie's mother, Carol Owala, Metis Cohort 6 fellow and a long-time educator founded Big Picture Learning Kenya in 2018. Having grown up in Kibera, the biggest slum in Africa, she witnessed first-hand how learners in marginalized communities struggled with poverty, a lack of resources, and zero empowerment. “ The Kenyan education system is so exam-oriented. When you are a student in a community high school, chances are that you have already failed in your KCPE. You are constantly reminded that you are a failure, and that affects your self-esteem. You walk around knowing that you are a failure,” she relates. Carol’s mission is to change that narrative for all learners affected in this way. She explains, “At Big Picture Learning, we help learners believe that authentic learning comes from the pedagogy of confidence”. Simply put, the pedagogy of confidence is focused on recognizing and amplifying the strengths of underserved students. By helping them build confidence and self-efficacy, they begin to see themselves as agents of change within their own communities. Take Vyetty for example, he comes from a very humble background and has for the longest time, been struggling with his identity as a young person. He lied about himself to his peers, got expelled from two schools, and was suspended a few too many times as well. Big Picture Learning met Vyetty while he was in his last high school, and at that time, he didn’t believe he was going to make it to his KCSE. All this was happening at the peak of Covid 19, he had suffered some losses and was struggling with his overall mental health. Vyetty was then enrolled in the Big Picture Learning program where he took on a mental health project. During this process, he was able to identify fellow youth, who also suffered from mental health challenges. He found his gusto. He came up with a proposal, powered through research, interviewed young people within his community, and with the goal of helping them, developed a project based on understanding mental health, and how young ones would find support for it. A manual was created, and he also partnered with an organization that had previously trained him on website development, to develop a website that will help young people in marginalized communities access mental health support. He is currently exploring the possibility of using animal therapy. Through the agency facilitated by Big Picture Learning Kenya, Vyetty is now a solid anchor in his community to many of his peers. He knows that he has what it takes to change things for himself and for his community and is determined to be one of the fine details that creates life’s big picture. Vyetty will be featured on our youth panel at ReimaginED 2022. Don't miss out on the opportunity to hear from him and other learners as they discuss “Our dream for Kenya!" BPLK Impact Since 2018, with the support of Metis, Girl Rising and other committed partners, BPLK has reached 213 teachers and school leaders from 6 schools, which is expected to increase the quality of education for 3704 students. BPLK staff provided 141 hours of training, mentoring and ongoing feedback sessions and celebrated the graduation of 12 youths from its flagship students’ Leadership Academy(LA) program. The organization also sponsored 5 students (3 girls & 2 boys), to attend colleges and universities. In addition, BPLK has continued to refine its model by launching internal innovations including the compilation of the completion of a student leadership pilot program (Kuna Nuru) to inform its work and impact the broader education field.

Let’s take a short journey together through the eyes and shoes of Naserian, a 9-year-old girl with a future as wide as the earth ahead of her. Naserian is in grade 2, eager to learn, pass her exams and hopes to become a doctor. Unfortunately, this may only remain a dream for Naserian. She is among the majority of Maasai women in Kenya destined to live a life of poverty and cultural oppression. Even with free primary school education in Kenya, only 48 per cent of Maasai girls enrol, and only 10 per cent of these make it to secondary school. By the time Naserian is 13, she might be circumcised and soon afterwards married off to a man chosen by her father in exchange for cattle and cash. Her world of possibility has sadly been reduced to the confines of her culture. But, What if Maasai girls like Naserian had power over their bodies and their future? What if Boys and Girls had equal opportunities in Education? Can we build a national movement of girls' clubs that leverage storytelling to ensure girls have the community and safe spaces they need to thrive? These are a few bold questions that our fellows dared to ask. Just like Naserian, Jedidah Lemaron witnessed first-hand the inequality and gaps in her community from lack of basic infrastructure to gender discrimination against women and girls. As a result, she founded The Malkia Initiative in 2015 to bridge the gap. Judy Munene developed a passion for supporting girls’ education which was birthed by an unfortunate incident when she was in class seven (7). A group of girls dropped out of her class because they felt too big to learn with the small girl that she was. They became teenage mothers soon after and engaged in casual labour to cater for their children. Lillian Wamuyu is passionate about community development with over 15 years of experience in community-based programmes. Her vision is to build a transformative and integrative social enterprise, especially for the benefit of marginalized families. Metis had facilitated the common ground in which these grassroots leaders stand and has made it possible for collective conversations and impactful collaborations to take place to make it possible for girls like Naserian to have a different outcome. Since 2018, Metis has enabled 4 million learners like Naserian, across Kenya to access quality education by equipping education leaders like Jedidah, Judy and Lilian to create contextualized innovations for their communities. Our knowledge-sharing opportunities have enabled leaders to problem-solve, learn, and collaborate for collective impact. You too can be part of this. ReimaginED our annual learning summit, will take place on the 9th of December 2022. We have the privilege of bringing together changemakers to reimagine education in Kenya. This event provides a platform for innovators to showcase their work while showing #OurDreamForKenya. We aim to bring to life the possibility of “Accelerating competency-based learning” by taking a journey through the “What is” “What if” and, “What now” in education. This journey is a step toward our vision of A world where leaders and learners thrive. Will you be part of it?

"If not now then now now" This was one of the inspiring quotes that came up during the Community innovations for gender equity event that took place on the 29th of September 2022. This quote speaks deeply about the urgency to change the reality we currently live in. There are huge gaps in gender equality. The main goal for this event was to sensitize the participants on these gaps, and the community-based innovations that have been set up to bridge them. Girl Rising. The first to speak was Richa Hingorani the global program manager of Girl Rising. She first addressed some of the gaps we are currently facing post the COVID-19 pandemic which are: According to the global gender gap index, 2022 gender parity is not recovering. During the pandemic's peak, more than 11 million girls were at risk of never going back to school, with some studies showing this number as high as 20 million. More and more women and girls managed caregiving responsibilities, had reduced access to sexual and reproductive health rights, and had poorer ability/skillset to navigate challenges and adversities. What is their resolve? To “put girls at the centre and harness stories as the change agent” and: Use their story-based curriculum to help adolescents build voice, agency, and confidence. Use their story-based training, workshops and collaborations with educators to build more inclusive, equitable, aspirational learning environments. Create a community Environment and use their stories to build empathy and understanding, empowering parents and community members to be strong advocates for girls' education. Create a structural environment by collaborating with governments and the support of local organizations to advance local efforts to educate and empower girls. Create a cultural environment by running media campaigns that use these stories to raise awareness with the broad public and change harmful social norms. Girl Rising's mission is to use the power of storytelling to change the way the world values girls, their education and opportunities by: Creating films, media content and educational resources that tell girls' stories and how educating girls' ripple effects transform families, communities and entire nations. Collaborating with organizations around the world to support locally-led change that accelerates and strengthens quality education and greater opportunity for girls. Activating change by inspiring individuals, from parents to presidents, to support action for girls' education. Their work builds voice, agency and confidence in girls so that they can persist in their education; fosters a more inclusive learning environment that leads to improved education outcomes for girls, and changes attitudes and social norms. Nairobi Metropolitan Service Next Brenda Imali Psychosocial support, gender mainstreaming in government at Nairobi Metropolitan Service spoke about “Gender mainstreaming in government”. Gender mainstreaming is a strategy for developing policies, legislation, programs, projects, society and community's development plans from a gender equality perspective to benefit both women and men. It may also be defined as the process of ensuring that gender is taken into account in all policies, processes and practices. She addressed three levels of Gender mainstreaming: At the legislation, policies, and strategies level At the organization/department level At the household/family level She highlighted the approaches by the government to gender mainstreaming: The NMS has come up with a youth-friendly service that deals with youth issues of both genders. They make special arrangements in service delivery that will address the unique needs of either gender They create employment for both genders in the youth-friendly centres. They provide training for healthcare workers and professionals on dealing with both genders. Another approach she highlighted was engaging stakeholders in gender mainstreaming. She explained that mainstreaming gender requires service providers in government agencies to : Assist young people in correctly understanding the true meaning and differentiating Gender, sex, gender roles and norms. Using adopting a supportive behaviour and attitude towards gender sensitivity, responsiveness, equity, and equality and easily identifying gender needs. Integrate gender issues into government facilities. Yazua Africa Our third speaker was Eric Mungai Founder and CEO, of Yazua Africa who addressed their approach to “Raising boys for leadership”. He posed this thought-provoking question : “How might we support young men to strengthen their leadership and entrepreneurial potential while innovating solutions for their communities?” Their approach provides a viable answer to this question. They create spaces where young men can learn, be challenged, and grow in their leaders! How do they do this? By using experiential activities and processes like Outdoor challenges Factory/ industry visits Group work Mentorship/coaching sessions by diverse mentors What is the impact of their work? Their first cohort has produced leaders in different fields: Accountants, Political, leaders, Police Officers, Footballers, Teachers, Talent Managers, Engineers, Doctors, Artists, Mechanics, Financial Investment Advisers, HR Directors and Acclaimed chefs. Any society that thrives must have a strong social development sector that caters to the well-being of its youth. Kenya's youth development agenda must be more than school enrolment; it must cater to the socio-eco development of young males especially. He concludes with this powerful message: “We are faced with a silent pandemic that continues to ravage our young bo: churn out angry, aimless, and dangerous boy. Our communities must have spaces for the positive development of boys. If we don’t do something for the boy child, we will have done NOTHING for the girl child; and NO ONE WILL BE SAFE.” The Malkia Initiative Our concluding speaker was Jedidiah Lemaron Founder and Executive Director, of The Malkia Initiative who had this big-picture question: “What if Maasai girls had power over their bodies and their futures?” The mission at Malkia Initiative is to contribute towards enhancing equity in education by reducing barriers to transition and increasing engagement and well-being of adolescent girls and youth through: Menstrual health and hygiene management Anti-FGM and child marriage campaigns AYSRHR information and education Referrals for SRHR counselling and services Advocacy for SRHR education reforms and inclusion Advocacy for meaningful youth participation What impact have they made so far? Over the past 6 years, they have reached and supported over 20,00 girls across the county and beyond with Menstrual products and education. Trained over 100 MHM ToTs in the county. Supported and carried Campaigns against Harmful Practices. Referred over 500 youths to healthcare facilities for SRHR services through social media. EAC reproductive health bill. East and Southern African Ministerial commitment to CSE Bill and SRHR(2021) to safeguard adolescents and Young people’s health and Future. MYEP training. Their goals for the future are: To develop a mentorship manual for Pastoral communities. To plant more Pad Banks across Kajiado Education scholarship fund for adolescent girls. Commission the first social enterprise for girls and women. The event proved to be a success as many in attendance expressed that they had learnt a lot more about current gaps and were inspired by the impact shared by the organizations that took part in presenting. We look forward to more conversations and innovations about gender equity that will be showcased at our ReimagiED event in December!

What skills and mindsets do Kenyan learners need to thrive in the 21st century–and who gets to answer this question? Over the past 10 weeks, our team has been hard at work exploring these questions. At Metis, our focus to date has been on Fellows and the growth of their leadership and ventures. We deeply believe that collective leadership is an essential lever for improving learning outcomes for students. But what are the outcomes towards which we collectively strive? What is our shared vision for education? Who gets to decide? Our Collective enjoyed the process of co-creating this vision with youth, caregivers, policymakers, and practitioners, situating it within our local context, and thinking about how we can each orient our efforts towards shared outcomes. Through a design-thinking inspired approach and conversations with ~120 people across the education ecosystem, from educators to learners to parents to community members to funders to partners, Metis has co-created a vision for these requisite skills and mindsets that will serve as our North Star, orienting our work and all we do. These internal skills and mindsets are supplemented by external factors that have been flagged as critical to enabling the inculcation and strengthening of these skills and mindsets. How did we do it? We created outlines for workshops and conversations designed to source large amounts of raw data. We deliberately designed questions to be creative and open-ended, to optimise for accuracy in the stories we heard. An example of this was asking participants to draw pictures before and after they saw a positive change in a learner. When conducting these workshops and conversations, we aimed to solve for the diversity of participants, which took us to locations around Kenya like Kibera, Magadi, and Mombasa, as well as to virtual rooms with leading education thinkers relevant to Metis. We designed these conversations to be inclusive of all voices who’re affected by education because we strongly believe that learners’ and caregivers’ input is just as important as that of education experts. Then came codifying this output. We typed up all the raw output that we solicited from the first stage and analysed each piece of text critically. For each distinct piece of text, we identified as many themes as we possibly could, distinguishing between internal (e.g., confidence, problem-solving, community-centred) and external (e.g., safe space, access to resources) themes. This resulted in an output of ~35 internal themes and ~25 external themes. We next focused on grouping related themes. For each theme, we evaluated it against every other theme to ask ourselves if they were related. We also counted how many times each theme came up as a way to guide prioritisation. Using both these steps, we then identified five major internal themes (chosen by priority and encompassing related ‘smaller’ themes) and four major external themes. As we did this, we also ensured that our themes complemented frameworks such as Kenya’s CBC–think of the double helix of a DNA strand that’s connected. In parallel, as we worked to identify these themes, i.e., relevant skills and mindsets, we realised that communicating these would need to be supplemented with further storytelling from within our Collective. We, therefore, designed open-ended questions to allow Fellows and alumni to tell stories around these themes–how did their programmes and organisations work on these skills and mindsets, and what examples did they have of learners displaying these? Once our themes were finalised, we then set out to source these stories so that we could capture what our North Star was–not just defining the important skills and mindsets, but bolstering these definitions with stories sourced from our community. Stay tuned for future blog posts, where we share the themes we came up with and related stories from our Collective! Metis Team.

“Monto” If you grew up in Kenya, you are all too familiar with this term. Popular in primary schools, the “monto” came in various shapes and sizes and was a form of punishment for children who would speak in their native / mother tongue and or Kiswahili. The system was set up to improve language literacy skills in Kenyan primary schools. How did it work? The “monto” in circulation depended on the school’s choice. If you were lucky, it was a brown repurposed sugar sack that you’d wear over your school uniform. However, If life dealt you the other hand, you’d be spotted walking down the school corridors with a rather odd piece of jewellery: an old unidentified animal bone, as a necklace! One of our brilliant alumna; Clara Njeru, dug up this memory from her childhood as she led a rich discussion during our Decolonising Edtech Event that we held in partnership with EdTech East Africa & The Edtech Hub. Clara walked our diverse audience of education experts and enthusiasts from 24 organizations through her relationship with languages as she went further along with her education. “Later on, I left the school and joined boarding school where thankfully, there was no embarrassing monto, but four days of English and one day of Kiswahili plus a risk of getting punished if you spoke Kiswahili on any other day.” This intrigued Clara as she wondered why the same level of attention and pressure wasn’t applied when students spoke English on the day intended for Kiswahili. Later on, as she joined high school, Clara felt some level of shame. She knew her mother tongue and even though she was a top student, speaking your native language was associated with people who lived in the rural sides of Kenya and illiteracy. In her final year of high school, however, she came across a quote that affirmed her identity and her culture, serving as a turning point in her general outlook on the matter. “If you know all the world languages and do not know your mother tongue or the language of your culture, that is cultural enslavement.” - Ngugi Wathiong’o Her understanding of identity, culture and languages and how they intertwine with education has only grown since as she actively pursued more knowledge on the matter and pursued a career where she has helped create both relatable content and functional programs for learners in Kenya & beyond. The notion that English is superior to other languages is simply not true. Psychologists say that people who speak more than one language have enhanced concentration, improved memory, problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, multi-tasking ability, and better listening skills. The average African speaks at least three languages: a native language, a regional lingua franca and a colonial language. The importance of mother tongue education and learning other languages will also open us up to ourselves and to the world. The misconception that “proper” English prepares us for international success, and will help us be world-class citizens, needs to be broken down in order for us to take ownership of our own language and our position in other languages. Though the intentions of this “monto” exercise are to improve English literacy levels in Kenyan schools, there must be a way for us to reimagine an effective solution that does not include shaming or embarrassing our children into thinking that knowing their language is a bad thing. Decolonising edtech is a rather broad topic and after Clara shared her story, the audience took part in a fun exercise that helped us further unpack it. First off was an Agree/ Disagree exercise where the attendees had to respond to the following prompts followed by a reason for their choice. The prompts included: Edtech is a key lever for education quality Edtech is a colonial tool We can decolonize edtech We explored it all from power dynamics on ed-tech content creation to classroom application of edtech solutions. Did you miss out? Check out their responses on our highlighted Instagram stories here: https://instagram.com/metiscollective?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Later on, in randomly generated groups, our audience dug even deeper as we explored the subtle ways in which colonialism is engrained into the system. We also asked ourselves important questions like “How can we ensure justice in the ed-tech products we create?” As I sat in the midst of these innovative leaders, I was filled with hope for tomorrow’s generation of learners, & their fate was in good hands. I got an insider's POV of the work several organizations were doing to #DecolonisED in their own unique ways and how their efforts cumulatively made a difference. From our own work at Metis equipping, connecting & amplifying proximate leaders to Mshule co-creating learning content with their learners, Story Moja’s efforts to reshape mindsets with African books & literature and Ubongo’s efforts to leverage edutainment for African learners. The event ended with a networking session after exploring Decoloniality and Justice Oriented Innovation as solutions to decolonising edtech. Have you experienced coloniality in education? Let us know how you’ve identified colonialism in education and how you are working to #DecolonizED. Tag us @metiscollective on all platforms so we can see & share them too! Written by Tracy N Mwaura. Communications & Storytelling Officer, Metis.

Did you know that Early childhood development begins as soon as after birth?... Contrary to popular opinion, learning does not start on a child’s first day of school or daycare but during the first 1000 days of the child’s life. Simple actions from primary care to eye contact and how we respond to their cries play a crucial role in stimulating their brain and behavioural development. In Q2, we held an event bringing together different ed-practitioners and stakeholders to explore and learn from how they foster Learning through arts and play. The session kicked off with Franco of Cheza Cheza ( Metis Alumni C4) who led the audience through a session where they got to express themselves through dance. This allowed us to be aware and present and practically showed the audience how Cheza Cheza uses dance therapy for Social-Emotional Learning. One of our speakers, Janet Mwitiki, then shared a nurturing care framework and touched on holistic development during ECD. She sensitized us on the role of arts and play in early childhood development and how it can be integrated into different learning environments including being used to teach learners with disabilities. Some of the benefits of arts and play that the collective listed include : Arts and play help improve social skills as children learn how to interact with one another in a safe environment. Numeracy and literacy skills are improved as children tell stories and count as they play. Strategy, collaboration and teamwork, are key soft skills that are learned as children form teams and take turns. Valuable life lessons are gained such as learning that you don’t have to always win in life, practice makes perfect among others. Dance can be used as a tool to help children process and heal through emotional trauma. The host and the remarkable duo led us through different tips and methods for better ECD practices. To name a few: Channel your inner child. Practice responsive caregiving & pay attention to non-verbal communication. Ensure they have access to safe play and learning environments. Stimulate play with dance and toys. Practice Cost efficiency by using what you have. Co-create with your kids and students. Ask them to make up games and build new worlds. This builds their imagination and helps grow their creativity. If you miss that window of opportunity that you have in the early childhood years to bond and help your child learn and grow, another small window opens in their pre-adolescent years that you can take advantage of. Our audience did not fall short of questions to ask. A learning designer from Mshule asked how play-based learning could be used for deaf learners. The power of play in children with disabilities has proved successful in engaging them and Franco from Cheza Cheza followed up with an example of how they correlated the Kenyan alphabet, using sign language to interact with deaf learners through sign language in their choreography. We were also informed that for autistic children, learning through play helps with speech and physical coordination too. As the event came to a close, several calls to action were issued to the collective, the most important one being that children should be given chances to draw, paint, act out and tell stories about their lives to promote self-awareness that will serve them well into adulthood as they create a ReimaginED world. If you missed out on the event or want a re-run of the conversation, please click here to watch it.

The COVID19 pandemic upended a lot of systems. Especially learning systems worldwide. Not only did it disrupt school calendars but it also brought to light the need to reimagine our learning systems. But what about the people who run these systems?... The people at the centre of it all, save for the students, teachers were majorly affected and their systems and approaches needed to be reimagined too. Led by a panel of 4 professionals from government to grassroots, Metis brought together 70 + leaders in our first 2022 event to explore opportunities for reimagining teacher development. The collective explored what it would take to reimagine teacher development in Kenya and the steps that we should take to realize these changes. Our panellists included: Mercy Munialo, Senior Leadership Coach, Dignitas Ruth Mugambi, PA & Technical Advisor to the Principal Secretary, Ministry of Education Dennis Omolo, Teacher & Founder, The Teaching Pool Carol Owala, Founder & ED, Kenya Big Picture Learning Didn’t make it to the event?... We’ve got you covered. Here are some meaningful ways the collective identified as effective steps towards teacher development. 1. Prioritize building leadership mindsets. As a first step towards effective teacher development, educators need to ask themselves a conditional question: Am I a change agent in the classroom?... This question presents them with the chance to reflect on what Ruth Mugambi referred to as their ‘core assignment’. It’s been said that teaching is indeed a calling and teachers should therefore ask themselves why they chose to answer the call. There is a need for educators who are yet to identify their core assignment, to pause and reflect on what role they want to play in their learners' lives. Once their purpose is clear, then the development can begin. Mindset coaching helps the teacher think about their core role as a teacher...am I a mentor or just a teacher and how can I be both? 2. Embrace localized training. Localizing training allows educators to address issues that are locally relevant to their communities and allow for more meaningful learning experiences. Through localized learning, educators can identify their unique weak spots and work out solutions to improve them. Educators can localize these learning experiences, to serve their specific community needs by asking themselves "What is the most important skill that teachers in this locality need?... In the CBC teachers are encouraged to be innovative and contextualize their teaching depending on the kind of learners they have and their location and situation. “ - Ruth Mugambi 3. Allow teachers to be in the driver’s seat of their own development. “Give us choice. We want to be able to set priorities for ourselves. It’s overwhelming when change is always coming from the top” - Dennis Omolo Teachers value agency and autonomy and we should give them the space to exercise their autonomy especially when it comes to improving their skills. 4. Enable peer-to-peer learning. The premise behind building communities of practice is for teachers to improve their skills and work towards achieving better quality learning experiences. Communities of learning enable teachers to: share their best approaches and learn new ones from fellow educators in their communities Get good quality feedback from their peers which translates into them better reflecting on their practice and performance. 5. Facilitate life-long learning In addition to communities of practice, teachers need to constantly update their skills. Regular refresher courses help in the learning and unlearning process that’s required for us to better reimagine education. 6. Leverage technology for teacher development. Tech provides a wide array of tools for building virtual communities of practice for teacher development, learning, and discussions. There are already localized examples of this in practice from our everyday Whatsapp groups to online spaces and events. However, for these spaces to be effective, they need to set a regular cadence to facilitate relevant and even lifelong learning. (Stay tuned! Metis is launching ConnectED to enable peer learning later this year) 7. Provide avenues for mentorship & collaboration Mentoring is an important aspect of professional development for educators. The benefits of which aren’t limited to the apprentice. Through mentorship, experienced teachers can pass down instruction and guidance, personal support, and provide feedback. Novice teachers also get to improve their teaching methods and practices. Open communication between the mentors and the mentees is also crucial to success. Teachers often draw support from each other and consulting with more experienced educators paves the way for collaborations to be born thus positively contributing to school improvement and student success. 8. Remember teachers are HUMAN! We need to create support systems & safe environments for learning and teaching. Mental Health is an important factor in education that is mostly overlooked despite its delicate nature and vast impact. School and classroom environments also have an important impact on the sense of belonging and overall mental health of both students & teachers. Internal school support systems help teachers respond positively to the challenge of improvement. Maintaining positive relationships among teachers & students within a caring school community and safe, welcoming, inclusive classrooms, contributes to students' social-emotional wellness and readiness to learn. Schools should feel like safe spaces for both educators & learners to thrive. It's a fundamental truth that all teachers are open to improving but how do we measure their growth?... In a results-based evaluation approach, it may seem attractive to take student performance as a basis but we have to keep in mind that the education system isn't a farm or a factory for churning out A’s and good grades. Good teachers activate learners' intellect, emotions, imagination and bodies for more effective and holistic learning. Many alternative approaches can be used to evaluate teacher outcomes: lesson observation, peer observation, interviews with the teachers, parent and pupil surveys among many others. As we work towards reimagining education there is plenty of room for improvement that cannot be covered by teachers alone. It's up to each and every one of us in our own power as individuals, institutions and organizations to contribute to the holistic development of our systems. Metis continues to look forward to seeing education stakeholders go above and beyond in ensuring they provide quality education for learners in Kenya and beyond. Looking for a community of educators, innovators and changemakers in education to get you started on your development journey? Join our Facebook group here! Written by Tracy N.Mwaura Communications Officer, Metis

Collaboration Award: Presented by Sharmi Suranarian to: Sheilah Lutta (MoE), Eric Nyamwaro (STEM Impact Centre) and Maria Omare (The Action Foundation) As part of the ReimaginED experience, the Metis community wanted to celebrate and amplify the work of Kenyan innovators who are exemplars for us all. The awardees were chosen based on the following criteria: Their measurable impact on their communities and in advancing learning in Kenya Their exemplary demonstration of Metis values: do hard things, go further together, listen and learn, redefining excellence, do small things with great love. These leaders and their initiatives are paving the way for us to create a more equitable and just education ecosystem for all. They are lighthouses of possibility for all of us and deserving of special recognition. The categories for the awards are listed below. One of Metis’ core values is Further Together. As the African proverb says, “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” This award was given to three individuals and their institutions who have collaborated towards expanding disability inclusion within and beyond schools. Since 2015, the Action Foundation has provided direct services for children and families with disabilities in Nairobi’s informal settlements, ensuring that 2,200 children and youth have the wrap-around support they need to thrive. During her Metis Fellowship, we saw Maria grow from a small two-bedroom office in Kibera to a 3 story community hub. Over the last year, founder Maria Omare has crafted innovative partnerships to reach more families and create a more inclusive society, not only in Nairobi but across Kenya! Together with Eric Nyamwaro and the STEM Impact Centre, and Sheilah Luttah and the Ministry of Education, Special Education Directorate, Maria and the Action Foundation will reach 2,650 girls with disabilities across Kenya’s 8 regions with STEM programming that will equip them with practical skills and leadership and career expanding opportunities. Together, these former Metis Fellows not only planned this cross-sector approach to disability skills development but also crafted a winning proposal for Google.org, earning them over 700,000 USD in funding to implement! Kenya is more inclusive because of their pioneering collaboration. Join us in congratulating Sheilah Luttah, Eric Nyamwaro, and Maria Omare, this years’ recipients of the Collaboration Award! Community-led Impact Award Presented by Virgile (SFF) to Jeremiah Kutanya, Pastoralists Integrated Concerns Jeremiah was the first in his family to attend university, which involved him leaving rural Magadi for the capital city to achieve a degree in chemistry and secure a prestigious job. He however proceeded to leave that role because he knew that learners, and particularly girls, were not accessing the support they needed to learn and pursue meaningful lives. Jeremiah then founded the Pastoralists Integrated Concerns , a Community based organisation that has built a 6 pillar model centred on caregiver engagement, cultural leadership, youth advocates, appropriate curriculum, local chief involvement, and teacher training to enable girls to attend school. A perfect example of the great impact that proximate leadership has on our communities, join us in celebrating Jeremiah, this year’s recipient of the Community led impact award! Systems shaping Award : Presented to Ruth Mugambi (MoE) by Teresa of Imaginable Futures Ruth Mugambi is one of the architects of Kenya’s national curriculum known as the CBC. In 2019, before the role out of the curriculum, Ruth knew that its long-term success would be dependent on the support teachers received to guide learners and to continuously improve their own teaching practice. With this in mind, she learned from others, including her Metis mentor at STIR in India, and Metis colleagues at Dignitas and Kenya Big Picture Learning, on how to built a pilot for Professional Learning Communities. Known as PLCs, these peer-learning circles, enabled teachers to collaborate, support each other, and up-skill themselves with new pedagogy and mindsets. The PLCs are now a part of national policy documents including the Taskforce Report which she was a part of. The quality of education cannot supersede the quality of our teachers as well as the education officers and curriculum developers. We celebrate Ruth and her pioneering leadership at KICD as the Chair of the CBC Technical Committee for the reform. Her courageous and iterative approach at the national level allows our system to shift evermore towards equity and excellence. For that, we presented Ruth with the “Systems shaping award”. Congratulations, Ruth! Liberatory Learning award Presented by Gummi Galma, CIF student to Engineer Oku & Dr. Utheri Kanayo The Children in Freedom Schools’ learning model is an example of what joyful, relevant, and rigorous learning can be. Their pioneering school champions relevant skills-building for the local and global economy such as agriculture and coding, Afrocentric history and language, positive relationship and culture-building, and caregiver engagement. Gumi Gaima, one of the exemplary students at CIF presented the duo with the Liberatory Learning Award after a heartwarming speech that got a standing ovation from the entire audience at ReimaginED.

Leading Education Fellowship holds Inaugural Education Exhibition and Awards Gathering The World Bank reports that on average, the African Learner is 3 grades behind their peers in the global scope. Even with the increased use and advancement of technology, many schools in Kenya still deliver learning using the traditional methods. Numerous social and economic have also caused a great divide in how education is accessed and delivered. Issues of child abuse and labour are still rife in our classrooms and the social-economic effects of Covid 19 have caused many children to drop out of school. Kenya’s leading Education fellowship Metis, organized ReimaginED as a way of addressing the plight in the education sector while showcasing some of the solutions and innovations that the Metis fellows have been creating in their various circles of impact and interest around the education space. Metis Executive Director Rebecca Crook, challenged the attendees to be change-makers that will address the various injustices in the current state of education. “ReimaginED and Metis as a whole will help you find tools, resources and approaches that inspire you, people with whom you can collaborate and conspire with as you build this world and that you find most importantly, a community that helps you to sustain the energy and motivation that you need to do right by our kids.” Metis equips, connects, and amplifies education leaders developing localized innovations for a world where all learners thrive. Through our Fellowship, we support leaders to start and scale learning models that demonstrably improve holistic student outcomes. By 2025, we will support 300 Fellows to create schools, programs, and technology enabling 1 million Kenyan youth to develop 21st-century skills. Through our ConnectED virtual platform and annual ReimaginED learning summit, we will enable over 5,000 leaders, entrepreneurs, and funders to continuously learn, collaborate, and act collectively. The inaugural ReimaginED event saw over 30 changemakers showcasing their various works and impact in gender, disability, mental health and family and community outreach. The culmination of the colourful gathering was a plenary and award session. Panellists representing various stakeholders in Kenyan education discussed issues affecting the sector and drew a picture of what reimaginED education should look like. Founder and CEO of Fun Homes and Fun Kids Africa challenged the attendees to broaden their perspectives of education and what it means to the children and the country during these changing times. “We need to stop labeling skills that can be grown into profitable industries as technical skills. Children need to know that all the diverse skills can grow into profitable and scalable businesses that should be pursued.” Extemporary Metis Fellows were awarded in the following categories: Collaboration: Sheilah Lutta (MoE),Maria Omare (The Action Foundation), Eric Nyamwaro (STEM Impact Centre) Community-led Impact: Jeremiah Kutanya, Pastoralists Integrated Concerns Systems shaping: Ruth Mugambi (MoE) Equity Warrior: Wawira, Food4Education Liberatory Learning: Dr. Utheri Kanayo, Children in Freedom School For more information contact Kuka Njeru 0724 377568 Olive Mbuthia (Right) and Ruth Mugambi (left) both Deputy Directors for Pre-Primary, Primary & Secondary education respectively at the Kenya Institute of curriculum Development with Metis ED: Rebecca Ume Crook (centre) Virgile Bahujimihigo (right) of the Segal Family Fund presenting the Community-led impact award to Jeremiah Kutanya (left), of Pastoralists Integrated Concerns. Naftaly Muroki, Programs and partnerships manager at Metis presents Equity warrior award to Wawira, founder- Food for education The panel at #ReimaginEDKenya: Blinky Bill, Ruth Mugambi, Ciiru Waithaka, Pamela Awuor. Moderated by Mwihaki Muraguri of Paukwa

By Abdulkarim Taraja The journey to reimagine education not just in Kenya but across the continent took shape as the 5th fellowship of the Metis Education collective graduated on 3rd Dec 2021. The more than 30 cohort 5 fellows who had been in the training for the last six months finally marked their commencement at the Trademark Hotel which culminated into the ReimaginED showcase later that afternoon. The Executive Director -Rebecca Crook congratulated all the Cohort 5 fellows for the incredible work they had done and put in the last six months to change the narrative of education in this country and around the world. “I am excited that we will be showcasing this work both collectively and individually at ReimaginED. That we’ll be able to explore the challenges in the education system and explore what it will look like if all kids can access reimagined Education,” she added. The fellows had whirlwind thoughts and excitement as they were officially ushered into the prestigious Metis Alumni network. Here are some of their reactions pre-event: “I am anxious, nervous but really looking forward to both the graduation and showcase”!! -AnnRita “Super nervous, excited, looking forward, optimistic.” -Edna Semiti of ZinduaKaria Africa “I am excited, motivated to do more and I feel the throbbing heartbeat of my fellow C5, full of joy. Our partners will feel challenged with our collective Big Questions and will be inspired with our solutions. I am upbeat for the event.” -Alfayo The team at Metis was burning the midnight oil to ensure as many fellows and possible donors made it to #ReimaginEDKenya and were able to share with the innovators the path to streamlining the education sector by contributing to key education policy development. Terry Njue, the Deputy Principal at the Maasai Technical Institute and cohort member said; ‘‘ the fellowship provided an opportunity to explore, experiment, connect with the end-users and in design thinking innovations in education.’’ “We have achieved this as a team and we shall sustain this to keep innovation and reimagining African education. For who? For the children, leaner, for our communities, for the future leaders,” The event brought together key public and private figures who were able to share their words of wisdom and connect with the innovators to reimagine Education in Kenya. It also marked the end of the Cohort 5 fellowship that was the first one to be done online due to the Covid-19 Pandemic.

There’s a swahili proverb that goes ‘’mtoto umleavyo ndivyo akuavyo’’ which directly translates to ‘’The way you bring up a child is how he/she ends up being’’ From winning her first pageant at 19 and getting published as she transitioned into early adulthood, Grace Wanene is an excellent example of youth leadership! We had a chat about the inspiration story behind the Drawing Dreams Initiative and the amazing work she’s been doing in Laikipia county. LET'S GO WILD is an interactive wildlife colour book that emphasizes the need to protect the environment and nurture wildlife. Drawing Dreams Initiative, there's a lot in a name and your's sparks curiosity. Is there a story behind it?... In another life I’m a poet, I've co-written a children’s book on conservation called Let’s Go Wild. From an early age I learnt to use writing as a tool to inspire through poetry and by virtue of being a first born, I’ve always found myself in opportunities of leadership. My mum taught us to give back to society whether that be in time or in resources. We visited several children's homes where we got the chance to interact with and create art with the children, hence our ‘’drawing dreams’ approach. We set out to motivate young ones or even people older than us to add a splash of color to their monochrome dreams. Colour brings life to things and we wanted them to beleive that their dreams could manifest in their lives. Through the quality time we spent as a family helping out in our community, we got inspired to ‘’dream bigger’’ and decided to formalize our activities so we could have bigger and better impact. As a result I’d say DDI grew from wanting to share uplifting poetry and finding platforms to amplify people's desires to have their dreams coming to life. Why did you start Drawing Dreams Initiative?… I got published while I was turning twenty, a book I co wrote after winning my first pageant as Miss Tourism Laikipia 2013. There was a lot of human wildlife conflict in my county and I wanted to help change the narrative on Laikipia county being Dangerous to one of harmonious coexistence with nature and wildlife. Soon after the crowning, we started going out to schools for book shows and talks on wildlife conservation and its importance to us as a country at large but also as our individual communities at home too. It was during these short ‘tours’ that the need for DDI to be established came up. During the school visits, girls would approach us for assistance with sanitary items and many students including the boys would ask members of our team for advice on their personal adolescent issues at the time. What hit home was that these children needed more than stories, more than the one or two motivational speakers they got to listen to every term. They needed a support system. We were just doing this as a hobby with close to zero structure at that point. By 2016-2017, we finally got round to being a registered initiative and set out on our mission to care for the welfare of the kids in our community. What would you say was a turning point for DDI? Our Aha! Moment would definitely be In 2019…. I got to be part of a European Union cohort developing a Menstrual health curriculum called The Period Empowerment Network. This moment felt like a sign from the universe that DDI was on the right track. We began DDI to tackle the everyday community hurdles that stand between our children and their wildest dreams from SRHR awareness to social welfare and life skills. No wonder we consider these to be our 3 pillars: -SRHR - Menstrual Health and Hygiene Management - Life skills empowerment Drawing Dreams Initiative, (DDI) has been very active lately. We like your fun approach towards increasing awareness and fundraising. Can you tell us more about your most recent events and which one was your favourite? It’s hard to pick just one. The dreams youth expo was by far my most favourite event. It was a chance for the youth to have a showcase platform of their own without the propaganda of political interference. We wanted to once again shift the chaotic, irresponsible narrative seen in the youth and prove that young people and their business initiatives are worth investing in. Road Trip for a cause is also one of our favourites because it’s activism with a fun twist. We find areas that we’ve worked in that are less documented for the adventurous aspect and have people sign up for the road trip whose proceeds go towards funding the Menstrual and Hygiene products and any other outreach activities that we run. Everyone that signs up also gets to pick what they want to take part in during the camp, from life skills to catering so everyone is engaged and interacting with the communities too. One’s coming up this October. Check out our twitter here :https://bit.ly/3Bhu6p9 for details on DDI’s International Day of the Girl Child event in Samburu. What’s one lesson you’ve learnt in your leadership journey? I’ve learnt that as a leader you’re an individual but at the same time, a representative of many. There is no i in team, so your team has to be as qualified and trained as you are if not more. Having a well equipped team has come through a lot for DDI. We capacity build at the same level. Because at the end of the day work has to go on and everyone has to be on the same level for maximum impact. Having you as part of Metis Cohort 5 fellows has been a delight, you've been a perfect example of Metis practicing what we preach on collaboration and community. How has the experience been for you thus far? It truly has. I have met amazing people and learnt so much from them during the community of learning sessions and even during our side chats. DDI is a big fan of collaboration because it’s how we’ve managed to grow so fast through fostering helpful relationships with other networks. Being a part of Metis Cohort 5 has helped to broaden this network. My biggest collaboration has to be with Winnie, she got to come and participate at the Dreams Youth Expo and we visited two schools together too! We have plans to teach basic music skills to children and their teachers across these 2 schools and so far the reception at the meetings has been great. This experience with Metis and with Winnie and her school of music has taught me that you don’t need to know people at a personal level to make things happen. As long as your goals are in sync it’ll work out well or as we like to say in the Metis community, you’ll go #furthertogether.

Words by Aaga Mitoko, Executive Director ; Blue Ray Community Based Organization- Vision for Vision Project WHO approximates that 1.5 million children are blind and an additional 5 million are visually impaired globally. More than 80% of these children are from developing countries(Clare, 2001). Visual impairment in children affects their social and childhood development. MOPHS and the Ministry of Education (Education, 2009) mention visual impairment as an important factor affecting the performance of children in schools. Visual impairment in children can be prevented through early detection and management. It is therefore important to have eye projects that target children. The number of visually impaired children is more than the capacity the available Special schools for the visually impaired can accommodate. There is, therefore, a need to enroll these learners in regular schools. However, most visually impaired children are usually unable to attend regular schools due to scarce resources, untrained teachers and traditional taboos. Education is a basic right and should be enjoyed by every child regardless of age, gender, race, economic status or physical abilities. Persons with disabilities are usually perceived as disadvantaged groups and are likely to miss out on some economic, political, educational and social opportunities. Students with visual impairments experience challenges within school environments. Some of these challenges can be alleviated through parental, community and government support. In most cases, the curriculum in regular schools is designed for fully sighted children and is delivered largely through sight-related media. It is in cognizance of this background that we visited Kibos School for the Blind and M.M. Shah Primary School. We were able to meet the headteachers of both schools. At Kibos School for the blind, the headteacher, who is visually impaired welcomed us warmly and gave us a brief history of the school. We noted that the school was built in 1964 yet no major renovations had been done. She pointed out that managing the learners during the pandemic was a great challenge since they mostly depend on touch for their movement and learning. Maintaining social distance and frequent hand washing is therefore quite challenging. We also noted that the school has several visually impaired teachers who offer support to blind learners. These educators act as their role models and are an example that disability is not inability. We were later introduced to a teacher who specializes in refraction and supports both blind and low-vision learners. This teacher has good records on the number of learners screened in the school, diagnosis and referrals. We did a follow-up visit to the school after one week and interviewed some of the students to enable us to understand the challenges they undergo during their learning. The students started schooling in regular schools but later moved to the special school. They both acknowledged that it was difficult for them to cope and learn in regular schools since there was little or no effort by the teachers to support their learning in terms of technology, instructional methods and learning resources. The instructional and learning methods in the schools were tailored for students with normal vision and thus the visually impaired would be left behind. Some teachers in regular schools also view students with visual impairments as a bother to them and may hurl insults at them. One of the students mentioned that she was insulted by some of the teachers in her former school and referred to as “Wang’eOtow” which loosely translates to rotten eyes. This hurt her deeply and she says she was just going to school for the sake of it. There was also a general feeling that teachers and pupils in regular schools regard them as helpless and useless. One of the students highlighted that some of her teachers asked her to stay at home since they couldn’t accommodate her needs at the regular school. She therefore stayed without schooling for almost two years. In some instances her fellow students would ask her “Wang’eotow, why do you come to school yet you can’t see?” The respondents wanted this notion to cease and hoped that people would understand that visually impaired children can excel as long as they are provided with opportunities. They shouldn’t be treated differently, they have a right to be educated and pursue their dreams too. On schooling, both respondents felt that regular schools are not ready for visually impaired students and the students should thus join special schools where their needs will be understood and necessary interventions provided. They opined that teachers in regular schools should be trained in Special Needs Education, undergo an attitude change and be provided with teaching and learning resources appropriate for the visually impaired to be able to properly handle these students. Parents make a major contribution to the education of their children and are prospective sources of information about the academic abilities of students with visual impairments. Parents are the ones who know their children, their interests and the things that can prove to be beneficial to them. They also know their educational needs and can plan their future. They should therefore not hide children with disabilities. They should take them to school and provide information about their social, physical and emotional development. This information can help teachers to structure and modify their teaching to make provision of support and assistance to these students. There is a need for the government to invest in infrastructure and technology in Schools for the Blind to enhance learning and innovation. The education stakeholders, parents and the general public should be sensitized to provide a supportive environment for learners with visual impairments, this will go a long way in integrating them into society. Special needs education should be part of all teachers training curriculum for them to be able to handle leaner’s with visual impairment effectively “Disability is not inability” Bibliography Clare, G. (2001). New issues in Childhood blindness: Community eye health Journal, Vol. 14, issue No. 40:53-56 Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and Ministry of Education (2009).Guidelines for school health policy.Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and Ministry of Education: 42-43