BACKGROUND INFORMATION
In Kenyan Schools, the ministry of education has an All-Inclusive Class Room System of learning. The children with learning disabilities find it extremely difficult to fit and thrive in this kind of environment because both their parents and teachers lack the skills to identify/recognize the learning disabilities in order to advocate for and promote their safe inclusion. These children are labeled and mocked as stupid by their parents, teachers and peers. They struggle with stigma, discrimination/social isolation, verbal, emotional and physical abuse. Because of this, most of these children end up dropping out of school at early stages of their education. Without basic education, these children grow into illiterate and poor members of the society who are predisposed to social injustices of all kinds.
This project is therefore meant to provide training to teachers and parents on skills of identifying learning disabilities in children to promote the children safe inclusion. The project targets primary and secondary schools in Simenya and surrounding. Selected teachers from these schools and the parents of the children will be trained.
The project is estimated to run for one year from community assessment, implementation through to evaluation and final report writing. The sponsoring club is the Rotary Global Passport Club based in Canada, and hosted by Rotary Club of Kisumu Mashariki in Kenya. The host club was chosen because of her vast experience in working with International sponsoring clubs both from Canada and U.S.A and successfully hosting various projects in Kenya: Rain Water harvesting projects in Nyabera village; food bank projects in the slums of Kisumu; Hand washing stations installation project to help in the fight against COVID 19 pandemic, just to mention a few projects.
BUDGET:The total cost of the project is US $ 1374.50 (KShs.137,450).
Breakdown:
Training materials: US$190(KShs19,000)
Facilitators: US $160(KShs.16,000).
Transport : US $230(KShs23,000)
Food : US $ 693(KShs.67,300).
Monitoring &
evaluation : US $ 101.50 (KShs.10,150)
Definition: US $- U.S.A dollars; KShs- Kenya shillings
US $ to KShs conversion rates: 1 US$ = 100 KShs.
COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT & IMPACT
Preliminary community assessment was conducted in two primary schools (Simenya and Sikang primary schools; two Secondary schools (Simenya and Simeror secondary schools), and three Early Childhood Education Centers ( Rain of hope ECEC, Simenya ECEC, and Sikang ECEC) in Simenya village and its surroundings to identify need. This exercise revealed that three out of ten children from these institutions are struggling with learning disability of some sort.
The Kenya ministry of education registry was also screened for data in relation to children struggling with learning disabilities. The data from the ministry revealed lower rates of learning disabilities in schools compared to the data obtained from the actual community assessment. The ministry of education data reveled that two out 10 children in schools in Kenya are struggling with learning disabilities of some kind.
Given the stigma these children under go in schools and at home, such statistics should be taken seriously and must be used to influence policy changes in education to provide optimal learning environment for these children to thrive and learn without stigma. This is ,therefore, the ultimate goal of this project.
Three secondary schools; 5 primary schools; and 6 early childhood education centers will be targeted. We expect to train 40 parents and 30 teachers from these institutions. The 70 trainees will become trainers of trainees ( TOTs) to keep the project sustainable.
SUSTAINABILITY
All the stakeholders will be identified, namely: the community leadership, the various institutions of learning in the village and surroundings; various government and non-governmental education offices, and more so, the entire parents population. These entities will be represented fairly and evenly in the training exercise. Meaning that the trainees will be selected from these entities.
Once trained, the trainees will be issued with certificates, and encouraged to become trainers in their respective entities. For example, the parents who will be selected for the initial training will be asked and encouraged to serve as role models, go back to their various communities and provide training to other parents.
The initial training conducted by the Rotary club of Kisumu Mashariki will be done in collaboration with the Kenya ministry of education on understanding that the ministry of education staff will provide ongoing supervision and evaluation of the training to ensure on going training of teachers and parents. It will also be the responsibility of the ministry of education staff to ensure that policies are put in place to help create a conducive learning environment for children with learning disabilities in schools and at home.
Evaluation will be carried out by the host club to encourage and help the beneficiary schools to form support groups consisting of parents, teachers and community leaders. These support groups will train the other teachers and parents who did not get the training; and also help advocate for the rights of the children with learning disabilities in their communities and schools. The main goal of the support groups will be to propagate the skills of identifying and helping kids struggling with disabilities , in other words, train more people on learning disabilities , and ensure that a nurturing and enabling environment is created for the kids with learning disabilities to thrive and develop academically and socially .
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN
Implementation Plan.
Activities | Performed by who | Deadlines |
Grant request submitted to the district 6330. | Sponsoring club- International service chair. | June 30th, 2021 |
Identification of the host club | Sponsoring organization | July 30th, 2021 |
Completion of the final proposal and uploading on the district website | Host club in collaboration with the sponsoring club’s contact person | December 27th, 2021. |
Approval of the project by the district committee | District 6330 | December 27th, 2021 |
Identification of contacts persons from both the host and the sponsoring club | Sponsoring and host clubs | December 27th, 2021 |
Fundraising | Sponsoring club | Ongoing since July, 2021 to end Jan 30th, 2022 |
Creating MOU | Sponsoring and Host clubs | Dec 27thth, 2021 |
Community assessment (identification of the schools, stakeholders, parents, etc) | Host club | Jan 15th, 2021 |
Second community visit to arrange for training space. | Host club | Feb 20th, 2022 |
Three days training | Host club and partners | March 4th, 2022 |
Monitoring and evaluation | Host club | March 30th, 2022 |
Formation of sustainability teams to carry on with the project | Host club | March 30th, 2022 |
Final report writing | Host club | April 10th, 2022 |
Handing final report to sponsoring club. | Host club | April 15th, 2022 |
Sponsoring club meets and go over the report | Sponsoring club | April 20th, 2022 |
Consultation with the host club about the report, and approval of the report before it handed over to the district. | Sponsoring and host club | April 26th, 2022 |
Report handed over to the district | Sponsoring club | April 30th, 2022 |
Report received, approved by the district, funds released to the sponsoring club, and project is completed. | District 6330 and the sponsoring club | May 15th, 2022. |
Number of Trainees targeted for the project: 70 trainees ( 40 parents and 30 teachers ) drawn from 3 Secondary schools (Simenya, Simerro , and Sidindi Sec Schools); 5 Primary schools ( Simenya, Simerro, Sidindi, Sikang and Nyiera Primary Schhols ); and 6 early childhood education centres (Rain of Hope Early child Deve Center, Sikang ECEC, Simerro ECEC, Simenya ECEEC, Sidindi ECEC, and Nyiera EECE).
Contact person from the sponsoring club- Christopher Omira- International service chair.
Contact persons from the host club- Ibrahim Abila and Miriam Obiero- Members of the Kisumu Mashariki Rotary club.
Sponsoring Club's Project Committee Members: Christopher Omira, Dr. Robbi Howlett , Hala Jawad, and Tanya Wolf.
Host Club's Project Committee Members: Ibrahim Abila, Miriam Obiero and Dennis Odhoch.
EXPECTED EXPENSES
| Description | Supplier | Currency | Total | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monitoring and evaluation | Local Supplier | KES | $10,150.00 | $101.50 |
| Facilitators fees | 4 experts, see documents, | KES | $16,000.00 | $160.00 |
| Transportation | Local supplier | KES | $23,000.00 | $230.00 |
| Food and Refreshments | Local Supplier | KES | $69,300.00 | $693.00 |
| Training Materials | Facilitators and local sources | KES | $19,000.00 | $190.00 |
| Total: | $1,374.50 | |||
EXPECTED INCOME
| Description | Funding Source | Amount | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Club/Other | $916.50 | 66.68 % | |
| District Grant | $458.00 | 33.32 % | |
| Total: | $1,374.50 | 100.00 % | |
COOPERATING ORGANIZATIONS
Off course, the Rotary Global Passport Club is the sponsoring organization responsible for the bulk of the fund raising. Rotary club of Kisumu Mashariki is the host club in Kenya whose cardinal responsibility is to implement the project, do evaluation and write final report. Cooperating organizations are as follow and their main contributions:
1. Kenya ministry of education:Provide training curriculum and approval for the host club to engage with the schools. Provide trainees who will be trained initially. The trainees from the ministry of education will provide continued training and supervision to ensure sustainability. They will also help with providing training materials as needed.
2. The schools:Provide training space, and trainees (teachers) who will become trainers later to ensure sustainability. The schools will also ensure that conducive learning environment is created and maintained for the children with learning disabilities.
3. Parents and community members: Act as trainees initially and the trained will be encouraged to become trainers and advocate for the children with learning disabilities. Logistically, some parents will help with cooking, serving, and organizing the training space when the training will be happening.
4. Community leadership: Engage to provide security and access into their communities. They will help with implementation of policies that are meant to create conducive learning environment for the children.
5. Local non-government organizations such as compassion Canada which operate in the area will be partnered with to help in sustainability.