Our Current Programs

Impacting the society!

Programme implementation was strategically developed as WERK evolved organically from purely conducting research to applying the recommended interventions and remedies emerging from research studies thereby linking research to action, while retaining research as an important precursor to all programming.

WERK’s Secretariat is engaged in the implementation of multi-year education action research projects which address access to education, equity in education, transition and completion strategies, learning outcomes, life skills and mentorship. The projects focus on early childhood education, basic education, girls’ education, gender in education, education in pastoralist & marginalized regions, education for minorities, teacher support & development.

Provision of equitable access to safe and secure, inclusive and quality learning opportunities for drought affected children and adolescents in Tana River and Kwale counties

WERK is collaborating with UNICEF Kenya to implement a drought response project in Tanariver and Kwale counties with an aim of addressing uninterrupted learning, access to safe water and re-enrolment of out of school children and those who dropped out as a result of the drought.

Through this partnership, WERK with funding fromUNICEF, is assisting schools in drought affected regions to reopen, stay open, to reduce dependence on external actors to respond to future shocks and to foster local government ownership and leadership. WERK is also building capacity of the local community and schools and creating awareness in areas of MHPSS, GBV and DRR for children, adolescents, teachers and community as a whole.

WERK is working with 22 schools in Tanariver and Kwale that are mostly affected by drought with high dropout rates, reduced enrolment with limited access to safe and sufficient water.

The project aims to ensure:

1. Children, including adolescents, affected by emergencies have equitable access to safe and secure, inclusive and quality learning opportunities including installation of water tanks with connections, re-enrolment of dropped out children, provision of learning materials and incentives for BOM teachers to cover the shortage in target schools.

2. At-risk and affected populations have timely access to culturally appropriate, sex- and age-sensitive information and interventions, to prevent and respond to violence, exploitation, abuse, neglect and harmful practices with provision of MHPSS and referral services and training of Teachers/Administrators on GBV, MHPSS and DRR topics as well as distribution of dignity kits and sanitary pads

3. Enhance capacity of MoE & TSC officials at national and subnational levels to establish shock responsive systems for preparedness and resilience including a real-time monitoring system with 3 workshops in each county and at least 2 joint monitoring visits during the period of the project.

Watoto Wote Twende Shule

WERK is implementing Watoto Wote Twende Shule project that is aimed at increasing the enrolment and retention of 40,000 out of school boys and girls in five counties namely; Kajiado, Kilifi, Kwale, Tana River and Narok.

The project also aims at developing mentorship skills and community service learning for 4,000 girls and boys in selected secondary schools. Other interventions include mobilizing communities to enroll and retain their children in school, building the capacity of Board of Management (BoMs) to develop and implement school improvement plans, communities to protect and safeguard their children, education managers to implement competence-based curriculum and enhance the tracking of attendance.

Financing Violence-Free Futures in East and Southern Africa: Making Investments that Accelerate Progress and Accountability for Women and Girls.

WERK is collaborating with UN-Women on a study that focuses on financing for the ending of violence against women and girls (EVAWG) in the eastern and southern Africa region.

Intergenerational Perspectives on Building Education Better Post-COVID 19: Engaging Young People to Bridge the School-Community Gap.

WERK in partnership with Jaslika Consulting is currently undertaking an action research on Inter-Generational Perspectives in Education in Nairobi and Nyeri counties.

Youth Education and Sports Program (YES)

WERK is currently hosting and mentoring Youth Education and Sports program (YES) a refugee-led based organization working in Kakuma refugee camp.

Digital Personalized Learning (Dpl) To Improve Literacy And Numeracy Outcomes In Kenyan Pre-Primary Classrooms

WERK is collaborating with Edtech Hub, a global research partnership that aims to empower people by giving them the evidence they need to make decisions about technology in education, to conduct research in selected primary schools within Muranga and Mombasa counties.

The research is assessing the impact of the EIDU app on learning outcomes. The EIDU app includes a digitized version of the Tayari programme (lesson plans for pre-primary teachers) and personalized learning content for learners in PP1 and PP2. The research aims to find out more about how the EIDU app is being used and the impact of the content on learning outcomes.

Strengthening Leadership, Management and Programming Capacity of WERK

The Strengthening Leadership, Management and Programming Capacity of WERK project aims to enhance the institutional capacity of WERK to contribute more effectively to increased enjoyment of human rights by women and girls and enjoyment of gender equality in Kenya.

The project’s objectives are two thronged:

1) To improve the management, programming and sustainability of WERK and

2) To enhance delivery of quality services and advocacy by WERK to advance gender equality in Kenya.

The overall target is to benefit WERK, its staff and board members, 30 female student leaders, 15 senior women leaders amongst other indirect beneficiaries. The project is financed by Uraia Trust under the Women Voices and Leadership Project (WVL).

Sound The Horn: A Pilot For Securing Safe Work Spaces For Women In Universities In Kenya

The aim of this project is to develop a prototype of safe spaces for female university staff (professional and non- professional) at Kenyan universities using Kenyatta University (KU) for the pilot. The pilot at Kenyatta University is designed to achieve sustainable institutional and attitudinal changes that will guarantee safe work spaces for women staff. Consequently, this prototype will facilitate holding duty bearers accountable for the safety and security of its female staff in safe and secure spaces (formal and informal). This involves acting at multiple levels (policy and implementation) with multiple actors (women/men, professional/support staff, Coalitions and networks) using a combination of mutually reinforcing creative, participatory and conventional strategies, building on innovations introduced by WERK in its early years. HIVOS Foundation finances the project.

Education for Life Project

The Education for Life (EfL) project is funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) under the Leave No Girl Behind (LNGB) funding window. The project aims at bringing about accelerated literacy and numeracy outcomes and life skills for the most marginalized Out of School Girls (OOSG) in underserved targeted counties of Isiolo, Garissa, Migori, Kisumu and Kilifi by transforming their educational and vocational attainment and lives.

More specifically, the Education for Life project works with severely marginalized girls (5,000) and boys (500) aged between 10–19 years with a target of 70% of those who never enrolled in school and 30% who dropped out without gaining basic education.

The project is implemented by ActionAid International Kenya as the lead agency in a Consortium, which comprises Voluntary Services Overseas (VSO) Kenya and Leonard Cheshire (LC). WERK is the external evaluator, tasked with conducting the qualitative and quantitative research for baseline, midline and endline evaluations.

Opportunity Schools program

The Opportunity Schools program falls under the Education for Pastoralists Program (EfPP). The vision of this program is that all children under the ages of 17 living in Northern Kenya and other arid lands access their constitutional right to quality education.

The OS program centralizes on improved learning outcomes as a pivot for enhancing access, retention and progression at all levels.

Education for Minorities

Education for Minority (EFM) is a project that aims at tapping available local knowledge among selected minority groups, who fall within the cluster of pastoralists, nomads, or hunters and gatherers.

The African Higher Education in Emergencies Network

This a network of African Universities dedicated to offering diplomas with strong employability potential to refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) on the continent.

AHEEN came together to respond to the need for an African solution that contributes to inclusion of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the continent’s higher education systems.

AHEEN works within the framework of the World Humanitarian Summit’s Grand Bargain commitments to shifting power and funding to local actors with the goal of creating sustainable and culturally appropriate higher education options that emphasize local knowledge production, support community-building in fragility, and develop refugee economies through diplomas with strong employability potential in the very contexts in which students live and learn.

The network seeks to achieve the following outcomes:

1. Employability

2. Advocacy

3. Network

4. Empowerment

WERK is a member of the network.

Edtech Data Collection & Analysis

WERK has been contracted by Edtech Hub, a global research partnership that aims to empower people by giving them the evidence they need to make decisions about technology in education. WERK is as a research partner tasked with taking lead in data collection and analysis.

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