Preparing for phase two

Now that phase one of the programme is coming to an end, we are busy preparing for phase two which will also aim to support those students who are not attending secondary school in the communities around the iMlango schools.

Therefore, this month is somewhat of a transitional period for the programme, and we are taking this time to enagage with the new schools that will join the programme in phase two. We are also busy continuing to provide support to schools this month whilst we compile the endline evaluation report, which we hope to share with you in next month's update. 

In order to keep everyone informed, we held sessions with the Ministry of Education and TSC officials from Makueni County, shown below, with the aim to strengthen the relationship between iMlango and the county officials moving forward.

STUCK IN THE MUD

The in-field teams work tirelessly to conduct numerous school visits every week, to help ensure the programme continues to move in the right direction. On one of these visits this month to Lango Baya primary school, the field team encountered a regular site: a blocked road, caused by heavy rainfall. 

It took the field team a total of nine hours to make their way through the mud to the school, but unfortunately this meant that they couldn't make it to the school that day. These types of road conditions highlight some of the logistical challenges of working in rural Kenya.

Until next time, 
The iMlango team

iMlango phase one draws to an end

During this year’s first term a total of 23,574 new pupils were registered into the programme with the majority coming from schools near iMlango schools. 

As we move into the new term, we plan to hold meetings with county officials in Makueni County to provide an update on the programme, and to discuss transition arrangements as iMlango phase one draws to an end. 

iMlango Junior Debaters Contest: UPdate

The first round of the iMlango Junior Debaters Contest – Competition two is progressing well, where groups were set the motion:

‘Sickness is the biggest factor which makes pupils absent from school. Do you agree or disagree with this statement? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.’

We’re pleased to inform you that more students engaged with the contest this time round, with a total of 515 groups submitting an answer compared with 452 for the first round of competition one – an increase of 14 per cent.

The team with the highest score in this round were ‘Ronaldo’ who scored an impressive 82 per cent. 

Triple helix summit

We were honored take part in the International Triple Helix Summit that took place on 4-6 April in Nairobi.

The Triple Helix Summit aimed to catalyse the overall attainment of the SDGs. The scale and ambition of the SDGs requires a paradigm shift in Global Partnership to ensure their achievement. The Summit proposed the use of a Quadra Helix approach that incorporates Governments, the private sector, Civil Society and the Academia in exploring the use of ICT and Data in accelerating the attainment of SDGs

It was great to attend the prestigious event which gave us a platform to share iMlango's story and impact. 

Elsewhere in the programme, we are busy working with an external evaluator to compile the iMlango evaluation endline report for phase one of the programme, and we hope to share the report and some fascinating insights with you soon. 

Until next time,

The iMlango Team

UK’s Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson visits Kenya

We were delighted to be invited to a reception on Friday 17th March, with the UK’s Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs, Boris Johnson. The reception took place at the High Commissioner’s residence in Nairobi, where our Kenyan team briefed Mr Johnson on how our technology helps to improve education outcomes for marginalised children in rural Kenyan schools.

Photo credit: UK in Kenya