Positive protest against the effects of climate change on education through inclusive community-led initiatives in Kenyan arid lands

• In Event: Climate and Environmental Protests as Education

Proposal

Authors: Ms Emis Njeru, Ministry of Education; Ms Ann Gachoya, Ministry of Education; Ms Rosa Muraya, Education development Trust
Kenya is among the least contributors to greenhouse gas emissions worldwide but continues to bear the brunt of climate change. Among the devastating effects of climate change is the unprecedented drought that affected the horn of Africa between 2020-2022 and other calamities such as extreme floods, which causes increased misplacement, tension, conflict and instability among communities due to limited access to basic needs. In Kenya, communities in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALS), have historically been vulnerable to these climate shocks that destroys their livelihood and further compounding the vicious cycle of poverty.
A recent study by the Kenya National Drought Management Authority shows that 4.35 million people in northern Kenya, an arid region, are in need of humanitarian assistance. 942,000 children aged 6-59 months are acutely malnourished, 134,000 cases of pregnant or lactating women are acutely malnourished.
The effect of climate change is not only limited to the health, food, safety, energy and sanitation sectors, it is also prominent in the education sector. Despite rapid quantitative gains in access, completion, and transition to secondary school at national level, northern Kenya has continued to fall behind. For instance, while primary school completion rates in Central and Nairobi regions is near universal, only 66.9% of learner’s complete primary school in North-eastern region. At secondary school level, less than a third (27.2%) complete secondary school in North-eastern region compared to 85.9% in Nairobi and central region . The region also accounts for nearly 50% of the estimated 850,000 out-of-schoolchildren. There are significant gender disparities on access to education and other resources. Climate change exacerbates the vulnerability on women and girls by amplifying existing gender inequalities in livelihoods, health, and safety. Severe drought forces women and girls to travel long distances to fetch water for domestic consumption. Traditionally, women have the most responsibility for environmental sanitation, and drought only amplifies that burden. School attendance by school age boys and girls is greatly affected as they frequently drop out or miss schools to support their families in the search for livelihood.

In order to ensure achievement of quality education for the population in ASAL areas, the National Council for Nomadic Education in Kenya, NACONEK, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Education Development Trust, embarked on an action research project that provides an innovative and long-term sustainable solution. NIWFESS, the NACONEK Integrated Water Food and Energy Solutions for Schools Framework adopts a locally led, community-based approach to create an economically sustainable environment that facilitates the achievement of quality education for children in the ASAL regions in Kenya.
The NIWFESS project invests in drought adaptation measures that demonstrates ways in which school-community systems can be less reliant on humanitarian support and become more inherently resilient by proactively protesting the effects of climate change in a positive way.
Communities involved in the NIWFESS project, have adopted the following strategy, in their climate change protest:
1. Private Public Partnerships to leverage best climate-smart practices with the wealth of expertise, resources and interests from all stakeholders in both private and public sector to successfully finance, design and implement the initiative.
2. Community and County participation, coordination and engagement through sharing time, knowledge and resources to grow and develop the program in their region using contextualised tools and development approaches.
3. Encourage climate-smart farming and utilization of drought resitance food commodities in the school meals programme.
4. Attract community, government and private sector funding to assure that the projects scope and integrity are maintained with transparency.
5. Promote local enterprise and create job opportunities enabling a strong mechanism for capacity building and livelihood support, increasing the project impact economically, academically, environmentally, and socially.
6. Mobilize expertise through attracting a consortium of cross siloed institutions and experts in NIWFESS Development and Implementation for best practice through an evidence-based approach for sustainability in education. Fine tuning project designs based on the scoping studies, surveys and general assessments to integrate an ecosystem of water, food, education and energy solutions.
The NIWFESS project is an innovation hub for mobilising community-wide change and action. The project also identifies ways in which climate education can be improved, for example through revisions to the climate education curriculum to provide locally relevant and actionable information; to provide knowledge and skills on how to make use of existing early warning systems that help communities better anticipate and absorb climate shocks; and on how to develop schools as community hubs for learning and sustainable change.

Authors

• Emis Muthoni Njeru, Ministry of Education Kenya

• Rosaline N Muraya, Education Development Trust