Kenyan Pastoralist enroll in school
Models for access to education emerge

A program of IIRR is generating new educational opportunities for hundreds of pastoralist women, girls and boys. For many families in Northern Kenya, calamities are more predictable than a daily routine of seeing their children off to school. . Conflict, drought, food insecurity and lack of adequate social services compound the challenges of securing a livelihood in a fragile environment. Arid and semi-arid conditions force families who depend on livestock to frequently move in search of water and pasture. Aid is often focused on short-term relief. Yet access to basic quality education is essential for these, marginalized communities to eventually improve their quality of life.

Two key barriers to education in these areas are lack of alternative educational models adapted to pastoralist lifestyles and limited capacity of community-based and local government institutions to manage the delivery of educational services. As a result, levels of school enrollment are exceptionally low.

As part of its Pastoralist Education Program, supported by the Banyan Tree Foundation, IIRR held consultation meetings in three East African countries to generate models for the delivery of educational services in pastoralist areas.. These innovative models are being developed further in consultation with program communities and education officials and are being tested in partnership with local institutions whose capacity is being built.In the past several months, the program has seen more than 400 previously out-of- school children, nearly half of them girls, enroll in nineteen Alternative Basic Education Centers. In addition, more than 350 adults – mostly women – have enrolled in the program’s Functional Adult Literacy classes

Education can become a more predictable aspect of life for many pastoralist families in Kenya, now that they have a school to attend.

Posted on: November 2007