24 March 2015

Country On Track to Achieving Universal Primary Education, UN Says

Nairobi — Kenya is on the right track towards achieving universal primary education senior UN official has said.

Nardos Bekele-Thomas, the UN Kenya Resident Coordinator said at a media briefing in Nairobi that Kenya's progress towards achievement of the millennium Goal number two was inspiring.

"Since the introduction of the Free Primary Education programme in 2003, primary enrolment raised from 5.95 million children to 10.2 million children in 2013. The Net enrolment ratio in primary education has increased from 67.8 percent in 2000 to 95.9 percent in 2013 which indicates that Kenya is doing well compared to Uganda where net enrolment ratio has slowed and declined slightly to 83 percent in 2009/10 from 86 percent in 2002/03," Ms Bekele-Thomas told a press conference at a Nairobi hotel on Monday February 16.

She however noted that although Kenya is on track towards achieving the goal, disparities in access to education still exist in the Arid and Semi-Arid Areas as well as in the informal settlements.

Ms Bekele-Thomas said that overall Kenya had made steady progress on achievement of the millennium Development Goals since their declaration signed by 189 members of the United Nations in the year 2000.

The Declaration resolved to put in place actions that will lead to the reduction of extreme poverty by creating an environment conducive for human development to be achieved by 2015.


She however warned that the government needed to accelerate policy reforms and resource mobilization in order to fully achieve the MDG'S.

"Kenya is on course to achieve three MDGs on poverty, school enrolment and gender equality. However, the country must intensify action on high maternal, infant mortalities and poor sanitation," she said.

The UN agencies in Kenya last year launched a joint development assistance framework to address pressing challenges like diseases, hunger, climate change and illiteracy in the east African nation.

Bekele-Thomas said UN agencies have partnered with the national and county governments to streamline implementation of development programs at the grassroots level.

"Kenya must invest in food security, education, health and environmental conservation to achieve sustainable development," Bekele-Thomas said, noting that innovative partnerships were crucial to accelerate progress on MDGs.


Country On Track to Achieving Universal Primary Education, UN Says
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11 March 2015

St. Joseph House of Hope


 
The St. Joseph House of Hope is situated in the village of Majengo that is a suburb of Mombasa. From our hotel it was a travel of around 30 minutes by car to Majengo. Muslims mainly populate the village, which becomes obvious as you can already see the minarets of the large mosque upon arrival at the Main Street leading through the village.

 From the Main Street you basically have to go straight and you will pass many carpentry and small retail shops in the village’s “Shopping Street” which is not drivable by motoric vehicles. For sure, these shops are not shops like they are in Europe. These are more or less wooden sheds, which are often not only the business place of its owners, but also their private living space. The people in Majengo are very welcoming, friendly and curious towards strangers and always willing to show you the way.

 St. Joseph is basically situated in the centre of Majengo. The schoolyard is grassland. The students are aged between 3 and 16. If they are not in class they sing, dance or play football outside or just take a rest. On the schoolyard, goats, sheep and chicken are running around. Standing on the schoolyard you can see a lake, which is not too far away. The schoolchildren are told not to go to the lake as crocodiles live in. I am not sure if that is the truth or the teachers are just concerned that the children will drown while swimming in the lake.

 Carol is the owner of St. Joseph House of Hope. She is very enthusiastic about the school, the children and the various projects the school is involved in. Next to the elementary school lessons, there is also a sewing class, where laptop bags and several clothing items can be produced. Furthermore, there is also the opportunity to produce soap bars with a wonderful and unique African smell. Unfortunately, at the moment Carol has major problems keeping manufacturing these items. All financial resources are spent for the basic lessons, so there are no resources available to be spent for production of the items. Therefore production is standing still and some of the students cannot be taught. Furthermore, the current security issues in Kenya heavily affect the Coast of Mombasa. As mentioned before, Majengo is a Muslim village and therefore target of recruitment of the Al-Shabab militia (the Al-Kaida branch in Kenya’s neighbour country Somalia). Majengo has a high rate of youth unemployment and therefore young adults; especially men represent an easy target for terrorist recruiters.

For the Academic year 2014/2015 ConTribute Kenya has assembled a team that is working on solutions for the St. Joseph House of Hope. In order to make the production line work again, the St. Joseph team is looking for private and corporate donors who are willing to support a re-launch of the production facilities, giving young adults the chance to learn a profession, so they can provide their families with a regular income and showing alternatives to religious radicalism.

 Long-term goal will be to offer the produced items to European customers. We believe that the products produced at St. Joseph have a good quality and deserve a fair chance on the European market. The St. Joseph Team of ConTribute Kenya will therefore set the drive to import and market the products in Europe as soon as the production facilities at St. Joseph are ready to act.
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