By Raynor Osare, Judith Nyakaisiki and Greyson Mgoi
The power of collaboration yields endless potential! That is why Action for Life Skills and Values in East Africa (ALiVE) believes in partnerships as it drums efforts to ensure that learners in East Africa acquire core competencies necessary to live and thrive.
In January 2024, ALiVE convened a regional co-creation workshop, in Murang’a County in Kenya. The workshop, supported by Co-Impact, brought together both state and non state actors who are key in the education sector in East Africa (Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania), various government ministry officials, civil society organizations, research institutions, educators from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, a member of parliament from Tanzania, and some development partners graced the deep weeklong conversations regarding core competencies (life skills, generic skills and values).
ALiVE has since began follow up sessions with critical stakeholders to prioritize roles and aspects to leverage through system mapping of key actors. Currently, the cover modules of systems of today have been finalized as well as political mapping in East Africa. The ALiVE team is now using the insights as they engage through the system shift.
Dr. John Mugo, the Executive Director of Zizi Afrique Foundation, and Principal Investigator for the ALiVE initiative, noted that CBC is better placed to instil life skills and values among young learners if properly implemented. He decried the gap that still exists in parental engagement, adding that it impedes the nurturing of life skills and values among learners.
The competency-based curricular are no doubt taking shape in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Zanzibar, where ALiVE’s footprints currently punch advocacy grounds to push for the integration of core competencies. However, there still exists a yawning gap in assessment, which ALiVE endeavours to fill.
“Yes, these skills may be covered by the curriculum, we may have teachers teaching them but how can we tell whether learners are acquiring the desired skills? The only way is to have an assessment system that checks on the skills and that is where ALiVE comes in,”explained Dr. Nakabugo.
ALiVE is seeking solutions to the emerging systemic questions by widening its collaborative net. We believe that the strength and outcomes of any education system, significantly depends on the quality of teaching. The big question is, are we preparing teachers well enough to competently journey with the 21st century learner? Are the teacher training curricular incorporating the changes and setting teachers to deliver competency-based outcomes that are envisioned in the respective East African countries?
Currently, ALiVE is extending a partnership branch to teacher training institutions, to support teacher educators in shaping frameworks that enhance integration of core competencies at the teacher level with an aim of ensuring the fruits trickle down to the learners. In Kenya, ALiVE has an ongoing collaboration with Strathmore University, Kenyatta University, Machakos and Eregi teacher training colleges. In Uganda, the partnership runs with Makerere University, Kyambogo University, and Luigi Institute of Higher Education. Similar collaborative work is also happening in Tanzania with the University of Dar Es Salaam and the State University of Zanzibar. In these jurisdictions, ALiVE is cocreating with teacher educators strategies for assessing and nurturing life skills and values.
ALiVE is also partnering with examination councils and boards in Kenya Uganda and Tanzania, to share experiences, lessons, frameworks, and structures to be able to see what we can learn and what we can lend to the larger government education systems, within the context of core competencies.
ALiVE is alive to the fact that several other countries, especially in the Western counties, have produced assessment tools, but none has been contextualized for East Africa. That is why the initiative is building a resource pool of local experts through its learning hub.
There is always power in converging and thinking together to co-create. We are gaining a deep understanding of how education systems work and how the shifts we desire can be achieved through the same systems. We call upon all stakeholders: the government, parents, opinion leaders, civil society, and the media, to play their role to ensure our children acquire life skills and values.