Start Small Education (Elimu ya Vijana Tuelekeze) Project

HOPE worldwide Kenya (HWWK) through a sub-grant from CARE International in Kenya received funding from the Start Small Foundation through the CARE USA Crisis Response Campaign: East Africa Education Initiative, to implement a two (2) year project to mitigate the effects of COVID – 19 on education. The project aims to ensure that adolescents (10-19 year old) in school stay in school and are able to transit to the next grades/classes or higher levels of education. The Project will do this by training teachers to provide mental health and psychosocial support to adolescents, empower adolescents with knowledge and skills on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health (ASRH), life skills, financial literacy, and development of adolescent leadership competence skills.

Project Duration:

March 2021 to June 2023

Geographical Scope:

Nairobi County (Mukuru informal settlements) and in Kajiado Central sub-County, Kajiado County.

Project overall target:

To reach 31,000 adolescents (10 – 19 years) in school within 130 schools.

Project Goal:

Adolescent girls and boys reach their full potential in Kajiado and Nairobi Counties by 2023.

Objective:

Limit the number of adolescents, particularly girls, at risk of dropping out of school.

Outcome 1: Increased access to education for adolescent girls and boys.
Outcome 2: Improved acceptance of parents and community members on adolescents’ education.

Project Interventions:

• Purchase and supply to schools of COVID-19 prevention supplies (cloth face masks and hand sanitizers).
• Back to school campaign using bulk text messages to adolescents and parents and on Life skills, ASRH and GBV during school holidays
• Capacity building of school guidance & counselling teachers’ on mental psychosocial support in schools, including managing cases of child abuse & SGBV.
• Promote guiding and counselling sessions for adolescents & psychosocial support.
• Back to School, ASRH & GBV outreaches to in school and out of school adolescents
• Establish school groups for adolescents and provide psychosocial support, life skills and ASRH & GBV information, and financial literacy.
• Community sensitization meetings for community leaders and members in the back to school campaigns at Chiefs’ barazas and Church meetings.
• Implementation of VSLA methodology in parents’ group.