Kenya
The KAB program and Kenya have a special historical linkage, since it was here that KAB was developed and first implemented. The program evolved from the ILO’s experience in implementing several projects on small and medium enterprise development and vocational training in the country, during the end of the 80’s and the beginning of the 90’s. At the time, the Ministry of Research Technical Training & Applied Technology initiated a policy that mandated all vocational and technical students to complete a course in entrepreneurship education, but no specific structured curriculum programme was available. Therefore, in 1996, an entrepreneurship education package named Know About Business was developed drawing from the technical and vocational training experiences in Kenya.
Several Facilitators, Trainers and Promoters were trained in th following years and soon, entrepreneurship education was introduced as part of the curriculum of colleges for teachers and of universities. However, in the late 90’s, the KAB programme still had limited exposure and the materials were taught only by a few training and education institutions.
At the start of the new century, the implementation of the KAB programme strenghtened, as an increasing number of Kenyan Facilitators, Trainers and Promoters were trained to teach or promote KAB. Some of them were trained in workshops held in Arusha (Tanzania, in 2002), Kampala (Uganda, in 2003), and Mombasa (Kenya, in 2004), and others in Nairobi and at the International Training Center in Italy. Participants included representatives from polytechnics, vocational institutions, technology development and research organizations, as well as officials from the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. In 2005, after being trained in KAB, officials from the Ministry established agreements with the ILO to print and distribute thousands of KAB sets to technical, industrial, vocational and entrepreneurship training (TIVET) institutions, public and private. The sets were distributed after a large training workshop was held gathering around 60 participants from TIVET institutions.
Since 2000, more than 15 training workshops have been conducted, resulting in over 4,480 Facilitators, Trainers and Promoters trained in Kenya. It is estimated that 1,695 TIVET institutions around the whole country have taught KAB since 2005, to about 218,860 students.
Education & Training Institutions: 1695 (since 2005)
Facilitators, Trainers and Promoters Trained: over 4,480 (since 2002)
Students / Trainees: 218,860 (since 2005)
Key Facilitators & Teacher Educators: 3 National & Regional Key Facilitators (accredited by the ILO), 4 National Key Facilitators
Contact:
Mr. Arthur Gitonga - Regional Key Facilitator, lecturer at the Kenyatta University
arthur_gitonga@yahoo.com
Ms. Josephine Kasera - Regional Key Facilitator, civil servant (Ministry of Education)
josephine_kasera@yahoo.com
* Note: all data above refers to the information available as of April, 2009. The figures can actually be slightly larger than presented.
YEF News Flash - Evaluation Clinic on Youth Entrepreneurship Programes
by Administrator
