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SNV/WORLD VISION EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMMES

Training of

School Management Committees (SMC)

Chepkopegh Division, West Pokot District

Held at Nasukuta Livestock Improvement Centre,

26th to 27th March, 2009

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Acronyms and Abbreviations Used:

AEO - Area Education Officer

ASAL - Arid and Semi-Arid Lands

BoG - Board of Governors

DEB - District Education Board

DEO - District Education Officer

ECD - Early Childhood Development

FGM - Female Genital Mutilation

FPE - free Primary Education

GoK - Government of Kenya

IGP - Income Generating Project

INSETS - In-service Education for Teachers

KNUT - Kenya National Union of Teachers

NGO - Non-Governmental Organization

PTA - Parents Teachers Association

SDP - School Development Plan

SEP - Special Education Needs

SIP - School Improvement Plan

SMC - School Management Committee

SNV - Netherlands Development Organization

SWOT - Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats

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Preamble:

he Government of Kenya’s overall goal in education for 2012 is to reduce illiteracy by increasing access

to education, improving the transition rate from primary to secondary schools, and raising the quality

and relevance of education. Other goals include the integration of all special needs education into

learning and training institutions, achieving an 80% adult literacy rate, increasing the school enrolment rate

to 95% and increasing the transition rates to technical institutions and universities from 3% to 8% by 20121.

One of the key specific strategies will involve integrating early childhood into primary education.

Since rolling out the Free Primary Education (FPE) programme the GoK, development partners and NGOs

involved in implementation of education programmes still face challenges ranging from low or poor

enrolment, retention and transition in various parts of the country. Some overriding factors including

poverty, negative cultural practices such as early child marriages, FGM, moranism associated to cattle

rustling and laid back attitudes towards education, moreso of the girl-child, inhibit progress. This has tended

to affect the performance of many schools in rural areas in general, but more particularly in the arid and

semi-arid areas that are characterized by the harsh arid environments coupled by, sometimes, a nomadic

lifestyle.

Most children in the arid parts of the North Rift region face many challenges that include hunger, disease,

lack of facilities and basic needs such as food, water, adequate shelter, school uniform, books, etc. These

have tended to accelerate the drop-out rates in lower primary especially among girls who are married off

as a means of acquiring ‘some wealth’ for families.

It is hoped that the GoKs plans to build at least one boarding primary school in each constituency in the

pastoral districts to ensure that learning is not disrupted as people move from one place to the other and

the desire to roll out the voucher system programme in 5 poor districts come 20302 can be realized sooner,

rather than later.

To complement GoK efforts in finding solutions to the prevailing challenges facing education, a number of

stakeholders including support NGOs have come up with or are in the process of developing strategies

aimed at directing efforts to cushion the efforts being made. World Vision and SNV/Netherlands

Development Organization are among many other organizations that are involved in supporting GoK

initiatives through various interventions designed to address the prevailing needs among communities. In a

joint empowerment programme aimed at facilitating school management committees (SMC) to play

effective roles in management of schools, World Vision and SNV have rolled out a training programme in

the larger Pokot comprising West Pokot, Central pokot and North Pokot districts that are currently on-going.

Other districts of Baringo and Turkana are also expected to benefit from the programme. The general

objectives of the SMCs training programme is to among others facilitate them:

with skills and understanding of roles and responsibilities;

to establish contemporary /underlying issues emerging in schools management;

to impart SMCs with basic financial management, records/book keeping skills;

to facilitate SMCs with skills to develop schools improvement plans (SIPs); to facilitate SMCs in developing strategies to enhance high performance standards in schools and

benchmarks for high enrolment and retention;

to create awareness on some general issues e.g. HIV/AIDS, water and sanitation, FGC, etc.

The workshop curriculum entails the following process:

Ice-breaking including introductions and expectations;

Group work and presentations in plenary: sketch description of the current situation in schools;

Group work and presentations in plenary: visualization of ideal situation/desired state in 3 years;

Group work and presentations in plenary: developing [SIPs] strategies of ideal/preferred situation to

address emerging issues;

Way forward.

1 Kenya: Vision 2030 Popular Version 2 Kenya: Vision 2030 Popular Version

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Proceedings Day One: 26th March, 2009

Preliminaries: he two-day workshop for School Management Committees (SMC) in Chepkopegh Zone of West Pokot

District was convened between the 26th and 27th March 2009, bringing together over 50 participants. The

venue of the training was the Nasukuta Livestock Improvement Centre in Chepareria. Representatives from

11 Primary Schools including Nasukuta, Plelekan, Pserum, Cheptiangwa, Chepkopegh, Pusian, Shalpogh,

Chematong, Toyopo, Naramam and Chesra attended the training sessions, co-facilitated by

SNV/Netherlands Development Organization (North Rift Portfolio) and World Vision Kenya, North Rift Region

(Marich Pass ADP).

Introduction and Opening Remarks: Participants

introduced

themselves by

name, school

represented

and position

on the school

committee.

The official

opening

function was

conducted by Mr. Godfrey Mwanga, AEO Chepkopegh Zone on behalf of the DEO Central Pokot District.

He thanked both World Vision and SNV for taking the lead and concern in education through supporting

the SMC trainings and urged the participants to take the messages conveyed seriously as they embarked

on sharing information on schools improvement with the wider committees and parents in respective

schools. He also challenged them to strive to ensure the school syllabus is covered to improve

performances. Parents representatives were also urged to support education through infrastructural

development. Reciting from Jeremiah 1:5, the AEO told participants that nothing happens accidentally but

within God’s divine purposes. He compared the different characteristics among the SMCs to the 12

disciples and urged them to do what must be done.

On his part, Kizito Wangalwa, SNV representative urged participants to make efforts to improve the

standards of education in schools. He encouraged them to strive to seek what is feasible and beneficial to

the community and the children.

Workshop Norms Workshop Expectations

Observe good time management;

Respect one another’s views;

Switch-off phones or place them in silent mode;

Avoid disturbance through unnecessary

movement.

To acquire skills on how to manage schools;

To understand the roles of SMCs in schools;

To be inspired and renew energies;

How to manage school funds and resources;

To get financial assistance for our schools;

To make new friends and contacts.

Workshop Objective

To empower SMCs to be able to exercise their roles

and responsibilities towards improving their schools

so as to achieve high performance.

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Workshop Sponsors’ Perspectives

World Vision: As a Christian organization working all over the world, World Vision works with children, families, communities and

sponsors all over the world to improve the well-being of children. We believe that the best way to help children is

to work with them, together with their families and communities, to make changes that last. Child sponsorship

builds relationships between children, their families, sponsors and World Vision staff. These relationships enable

mutual transformation by sharing resources, hope and experiences in overcoming poverty through child-focused

development programmes. World Vision’s programmes are based upon Biblical foundations in John 20:10 as

Child Sponsorship Programme: which establishes a relationship between a sponsor and a child in a way that

personalizes the challenges of poverty and development, and enables the sponsor to participate in making a

difference in the life of the child. The sponsors’ contributions help provide necessities such as improved health

and educational opportunities, and also support vital development work in the communities where the

sponsored children live. Sponsored children participate and benefit from these programmes, and the sponsors

are able to receive regular progress updates. Programmes include:

Health: Education: HIV and AIDS response: Water and sanitation:

Economic

development and

agricultural

improvements:

Working with

communities and

health partners to

improve children’s

health. Through

preventative measures

such as good nutrition,

breast feeding,

hygiene and

vaccinations,

communities are able

to help their children

grow up healthy to

reach their full

potential.

Engaging with

teachers, schools and

communities to

improve learning

outcomes in

education, build

confidence and teach

values-based life skills.

We work to ensure that

all children have

access to quality

education.

Through the Hope

Initiative, reducing the

impact of HIV and

AIDS through

prevention, care and

advocacy. We work

with children,

communities and faith

leaders to mobilize

care for orphans and

vulnerable children,

and to prevent further

spread of the disease.

Working with

communities to dig

wells, set up pumps,

construct latrines and

irrigate crops. Safe

water and sanitation

systems support

children’s health. Many

children are able to

study and stay in

school because they

spend less time

carrying water each

day from distant

sources.

Helping families access

loans, financial know-

how, and improved

agricultural practices.

This leads to increased

family incomes,

improved nutrition,

better health and

greater education

opportunities for children.

SNV Perspective: Under the motto: “Connecting People’s Capacity”, SNV/Netherlands Development Organisation works in

countries within the East, Central and Southern African region to allow for the effective change of expertise

and emergence of regional communities of professionals. As a capacity builder, SNV works with clients and

partners to tackle specific regional issues. The organization has chosen to focus on corporate Impact

Areas: Basic Services: Universal primary education with emphasis on quality and girls’ education; Water,

Sanitation and Hygiene; and Renewable Energy with a focus on biogas. Production, Income and

Employment: Oil seeds; Livestock; Horticulture; Non-timber forest products; and Pro-poor tourism. In addition

to these sector choices the region has adopted bio-fuels, vocational training, coffee and grains as pilots in selected countries. Governance, which includes gender, HIV/Aids, peace building and sustainability, are

central to our work. In Kenya, the organization has also chosen to reflect on emerging issues in relation to

MDGs and the Vision 2030. In the North Rift, SNV continues to strengthen capacity in different areas that

include Turkana, Baringo, Pokot, Mt. Elgon, Keiyo, Marakwet and is dedicated to a society where all people

enjoy the freedom to pursue their own sustainable development. It contributes to this by strengthening the

capacity of local organizations to deliver services effectively.

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Setting Workshop Objectives: Participants were probed to state what the workshop aimed to achieve, upon which they were unanimous that

the hoped to acquire knowledge and skills on proper management of their schools so as to have the ability to

deal with emerging issues and trends in education for better academic performance. This confirmed the

objective of the workshop. To ensure everyone followed, the discussions were conducted in English, Kiswahili and

Pokot.

Group Task #1: Composition and Roles of SMC/Stakeholders Participants were divided into groups to:

describe the composition of the SMC;

list down the roles of various stakeholders such as: parents; teachers; old boys/girls; development

partners/NGOs; local leaders; education officials; head teachers; pupils, etc in schools management.

Presentations were made in plenary and after harmonization, the agreed composition of the SMCs according to

the Education Act was placed as follows:

The composition of the SMC will constitute the following: Other stakeholders:

8 Class representatives

3 Sponsor representatives

2 Representing DEB

1 Secretary [H/T]

Ex-officios [AEOs, Councilor, MP, Chief, Assistant Chief]

The various roles were outlined as follows:

Roles of the SMC: Sponsors: Parents:

Formulating and implementing

school budget

Maintain school discipline

Employ and fire school staff

Monitor school development

Maintain school relationship with

the community and larger society

Maintain school history

Monitor school performance and

general academic standards

Implement government policies

Mobilize resources and manage

them effectively

Promoting spiritual values

School development

Guiding and counseling

Elect SMC

Contribute funds in aid of school

development and pupil’s welfare

Liaise with teachers in maintaining

discipline

Equip children with personal

amenities

Provide schools resources

Provide parental guidance

Approve school development plans

Local Leaders/Community/ NGOs Education Officials: Head Teacher

Mobilize/reinforce community to

build schools

Encourage parents to take children

to school and minimize drop-out

rates

Act as school sponsors

Mediate between the school and

others leaders/authority

Organize in-service training

Facilitate election of SMC

Monitor, assess and evaluate

curriculum

Act as link between the school and

Ministry of Education

Relay/monitor implementation of

education policies

Prepare school’s curriculum

Discipline teachers

Motivate teachers and learners

Ensure prudent management of

school resources

Offer advisory services

Head of the school

Secretary of SMC

Classroom teacher

Chairs staff meetings

TSC agent

Chief administrator in the school

Coordinates and implements

school activities

Accounting officer

Technical adviser to SMC

Delegates responsibility

The Teacher: The Pupil:

Set and administer evaluation based tests

Organize subject panels

Supervise, teach, advise and discipline pupils

Offer guidance and counseling to pupils/parents

Equip themselves with learning skills

Follow school rules and regulations

Assist teachers in the smooth running of the school

Promote the school motto by living it

Take care of school property e.g. books, desks, etc

Promote high academic standards by working hard

Observe punctuality

Develop a sense of willingness and commitment to learn

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Box 1: Group Activity:

Picture your school as it is now;

Draw or describe it by the name, address, division, district, school motto, school vision, school mission;

Draw a descriptive map with route(s) to your school;

Describe the enrolment: how many boys/girls;

Describe the staffing – number of teachers per class;

Describe the physical facilities in your school, e.g. number of desks, classrooms, toilets, etc and how they look like

(condition);

How does the general environment in and around the school look like?

Do you have (adequate) water in your school?

Describe any other special features or attributes in your school.

(Above) Participants make their presentations and below, group discussions in progress

Group Task #2: Situational Analysis: Participants grouped into individual schools for a situational analysis. The exercise entailed each group to

conduct an envisioning process in which they were asked to make a description of their schools situation as

it is currently.

Presentations were done in plenary.

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Box 2: Group Activity: Vision:

How do you envisage your school to look like in the next three years and beyond? Generate a vision for your school:

reflecting the national goals of education;

Informing the overall purpose of your school;

Setting standards of behavior of pupils and the desired relationship between them and teachers;

Providing the overall criteria for evaluating success of your school.

Mission:

Develop some general inspiring sentiments that are aimed at stimulating your school environment:

to provide the best learning environment for pupils to be able to succeed in life;

to work hand in hand with the community for the success of the school;

to instill discipline and self-reliance.

Motto:

Enact a short statement [with catchy words] that somehow summarizes your mission. This should serve as the driving force

towards your schools objectives.

Emerging Issues:

Concerning FGM, parents do not encourage their children to go for the cut. It is a peer thing where

children influence each other as a sign of bravery not realizing its harmful effects. An estimated 200 girls

were circumcised in December 2008 around Parua Primary School against the wishes of their parents;

Child labor is rampant during harvesting of onions. Parents are known to make their children to

participate in the onion harvesting without realizing the crimes they are committing in subjecting their

children to child labor;

Concerning indiscipline (especially among male pupils) experience shows that young boys who have

gone through the rites of passage have the tendency to disrespect female teachers as a sign of

showing their superiority. This stems from negative cultural messages and insinuations against women;

Women tend to shy away from taking responsibilities in schools management. This appears to be a

cultural thing where women are to be seen only and not to be heard;

Transfer of head teachers can impede on the implementation of the planning process;

Delays and/or lack of development funds to schools to complement implementation of the SIPs;

There is a lot of bureaucracy in the Ministry of Education which discourages teachers at grassroots level

from holding any consultations;

Lack of motivation from parents and other stakeholders has always contributed to poor performances

in schools, hence poor results.

Group Task #3: Clarifying the Vision and Mission: During this session, participants were enlightened on the need to have clear statements of purpose for their

school that inspire excellence and progressiveness. The session was meant to prepare them for the next tax

aimed at opening their minds while developing school management plans.

Day one was concluded in prayer as participants took a break to continue with assignments.

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Box 3: Group Activity (Developing SIPs): Cover Page:

Indicating the name of the school;

Post office address;

Schools motto;

Period of the SIP (normally 3 years).

Map:

Indicating the school map to the school.

Background information:

When was the school started? How many/Who were the head teachers? What/how is the school enrolment? What/how

is the staff establishment? How has the progression been in terms of academic performance?

What are the guiding principles of the school (motto/vision/mission?

Situational analysis:

Who are the stakeholders; what are their interests/roles?

What are the strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats?

How is the environment?

What are the key result areas/priorities per subsequent planned years in terms of curriculum, building (infrastructure), staff

development, resources?

Building action plan for the year: priority; target; tasks; by when; by who; resources; cost; SMC criteria;

Staff development plan: as above;

Financial requirement(s) for subsequent year(s): activity; resources; cost; source of funds;

Financial requirements for 3-plan years: as above.

Proceedings Day Two: 25th March, 2009

Devotion: Day two commenced in prayers, followed by a recap for Day One. The recap was done in plenary, with

participants volunteering information on what actually transpired on the day..

Group Task #4: Why Prepare a School Improvement Plan (SIP)?

Participants were introduced to components of school improvement planning. After deliberations in a

question and answer mode, the issues were narrowed down to the following components in developing a

SIP. The SIP is prepared:

To enable the SMC to identify, prioritize and implement projects according to priorities and accomplish

within a stated time frame;

For reference records;

To facilitate monitoring and evaluation;

To facilitate funds mobilization.

A SIP is composed of the following parts:

cover page containing the name of the school, address, title of the documents, the period and if

possible a route map to school;

school background information; school environment; academic performance; guiding principles, summarizing the motto, vision, mission, etc reflecting the national goals in education;

a situational/SWOT analysis, environmental analysis

key result areas/priorities;

action plans [curriculum/building/staff];

financial requirements

After the introduction participants went into respective groups per school to develop SIPs which were later

presented in plenary.

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Proceedings Day Three: 26th March, 2009

Devotion: Day three commenced in prayers, followed by a recap for Day Two. The recap was done in plenary, with

participants once more volunteering information on what actually transpired on the day.

There was a brief moment to introduce the concept of the cash book/register whose purposes were

summed up as:

assisting to enhance transparency and accountability on school accounts;

enhancing prudent management of financial resources.

Closing and Way Forward

The chairman of the session expressed sincere gratitude’s on behalf of participants to World Vision, SNV

and Peniel Consult for their good facilitation. He led participants into pledging to fully implement what had

been learnt, saying information is power and therefore participants had been empowered. He urged the

conveners to host more of such workshops from time to time to assist in effective running of schools. Closing

remarks were delivered by Mr. Edward Chepkonga, Manager World Vision Chepareria ADP. He thanked

the participants for their endurance throughout the training and urged them to use the skills acquired in

bettering their schools environment. He also assured them of continued support from World Vision and

other willing partners such as SNV, before declaring the workshop officially closed.

Schedule of Presentation of SIPs to SMCs/Parents in Batei Zone

School Date of Presentation to SMC Date of Presentation to Parents

1) Morpus 18.05.09 25.05.09

2) Cheprogogh 21.05.09 29.05.09

3) Psirwo 28.05.09 12.06.09

4) Kachemogen 22.05.09 19.06.09

5) Ortum Mixed 15.05.09 27.05.09

6) Sebit 21.05.09 12.06.09

7) Parua 12.05.09 19.05.09

8) Kapara 04.06.09 18.06.09

9) Kaporoch 05.06.09 12.06.09

10) Psiywo 15.05.09 22.05.09

11) Kapkepot 15.05.09 03.07.09

12) Penon 12.05.09 09.06.09

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Annex 1: Sample School Improvement Plan

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William Arekai, Public Health Officer, Pokot

Talks to participants

Annex 2: Public Health

The topics under public health are aimed at empowering the SMCs to

be aware of issues around water and sanitation and also to sensitize

them of the dangers of common diseases including HIV/AIDS. These

messages are aimed at being part of the curriculum so as to enhance

the war against commonly found diseases within communities that can

easily be managed, if avoided all together.

The 10 most common diseases are listed as: malaria, typhoid,

brucellosis, amoebic dysentery, intestinal worm infection, bilharzias,

upper respiratory tract infections (URTI), tuberculosis, sexually

transmitted diseases (STDs), accidents, eye infections, etc.

Environmental management entails the two components, environment

which represents vegetation (trees, grass, soil, building, animals, etc)

and management which entails actions aimed at creating a clean

environment, planting trees, draining stagnant water, providing and

using VIP latrines, providing and using refuse pits, trimming overgrown

grass, spraying for mosquitoes and other harmful phenomena, etc.

Environmental management is necessary as a means of sustaining resources and maintaining good health.

It involves ensuring water sources are conserved and protected and avoiding doing anything that may

contaminate the same environment. Some precautionary actions in sustaining a clean environment

include: Construction of toilets;

Avoiding bathing in/ or polluting rivers;

Boiling water from suspected sources before drinking;

Treating water before use at household levels.

Poor management of natural resources including cutting down of trees, forest encroachment around the

country are considered to be some of the most dangerous means through which our environment is being

mismanaged. Depleting water resources are directly linked to these dastardly acts that are also linked to

increasing poverty and disease.

HIV/AIDS

HIV stands for human immune virus whereas AIDS is the acronym for acquired immune deficiency

syndrome. The first known case of HIV/AIDS was diagnosed about 1984. AIDS was declared a National

Disaster by the Government of Kenya in 1999. In Kapenguria District Hospital, the first known case on record

was diagnosed in 1988.

The Kiswahili word for AIDS is UKIMWI [Ukosefu wa Kinga Mwilini]. Virusi haviuiwi bali vinauwa kinga ya mwili

hivyo kusababisha maradhi yanayo ambatana na ukimwi. The virus eats the white cells of the body which

are basically the defense cells against dieases. Some clinical features of AIDS can be easily diagnosed,

such as dermatological effects, effects on the central nervous system, meningitis, prolonged dry coughs.

Symptoms of the disease are equally noticeable including progressive weight loss, hair loss and change in

color (from black to silky brown), harpis zosta, formation of dark blue round, itchy/painful shingles all over

the body, collective tissue tumor, prolonged fever, anaemia, etc.

Some of the ways AIDs can be spread include unprotected sex with a person suffering from it (94% of cases

diagnosed), through open wounds, blood transfusion, pregnancy and breast feeding from a suffering

mother to her child, accidents, fluids with high HIV content, FGM, virginal/cervical secretion, STIs as active

agents. Other low agents include saliva, urine, sweat, mucus, tears.

Everyone is currently being encouraged to know their HIV/AIDS status. The disease has no cure yet and is a

great strain to the economy of any country.

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Annex 2: List of Participants