Jans Amboseli Academy Classroom Project

Jans Amboseli Academy Classroom Project

Introduction The World Scout Bureau, Africa Support Centre is always committed to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities with a view of creating positive impact in the grassroots communities. During the staff retreats, the office has endeavored to partner with communities in carrying out community services and interacting with the less privileged members of the society. This has been characterized by donations, visits to children homes and interactions with grassroots Scouts. During the staff retreat held at AA lodge in Amboseli from 20th to 22nd September 2017, a routine visit to a Maasai traditional homestead, transformed into a project idea for a nearby school. After interacting with the students and staff of Jans Amboseli Academy accompanied by members of the community, we made an offer to construct a standard 8 class room to ensure the pupils study would not be disrupted come the next academic year 2018. Need Identification Jans Amboseli Academy is a community school providing basic education to 200 pupils drawn from communities around the school. Started in 2012, the school which has a paltry staff of 10 teachers largely depends on well-wishers and the community members to sustain its operations. It currently has up to standard 7. Some of the challenges we observed included: shortage of food, desks, books and other basic equipment for conducive learning to take place. The major dilemma was where class 8 lessons would take place come 2018 due to the shortage of class rooms. As a result, the World Scout Bureau Africa Support Centre committed to build a classroom to address this challenge. Project Goal The goal of this project was to ensure provision of quality education by providing a conducive environment where learning can take place uninterrupted by extreme weather conditions. Site Information The school is located about 230km from Nairobi in Loitokitok, Kajiado county. The area is extremely dusty and can register very high temperatures. These two conditions combined, make it very hard for quality learning to take place. The classrooms are made of iron sheets which compounds this situation. The community around are largely pastoralists and a quick observation gives an indication of a population languishing in poverty with no immediate access to basic services like education and health facilities. Community Participation This project took into account the need for community participation which is important for the sustainability and ownership of the project. In planning and executing this project, members of the community are engaged through the school administration. The community members were also actively engaged during the construction process and partly contributed building materials and manpower that was not factored in the project budget. Technical Specifications The classroom measuring 30 by 25 feet was largely constructed with iron sheets and has a concrete floor, one door and four windows. It takes the design of the other classes for purposes of uniformity. Project Budget The total cost of the project including construction of the classroom, purchase of 10 new desks, a chalkboard and text books was approximately three thousand Dollars (USD 3,000) an equivalent of three hundred thousand Kenya Shillings (KES 300,000) Project Coordination and Management To coordinate this project a team of three staff members from World Scout Bureau- Africa Support Centre comprising of (Jonathan Omondi –Project Lead, Mercy-Project Financial Manager and Kennedy Kamau- Project Community Mobiliser and Head of Logistics) were appointed. They worked together with the School Director (Mr. Stephano Lemanok). Project Sustainability This a community school, we expect the classroom to be put into good use by the stakeholders and be taken care of by the school administration for the benefit of future pupils passing through the school. Project Handover On the 10th of January 2018, the World Scout Bureau Africa Support Centre handed over a classroom and 10 desks to Jans Amboseli Academy, a small Maasai community school in Loitokitok, Kenya. The WSB staff also contributed money that bought over 50 text books for the school.
Started Ended
Number of participants
16
Service hours
3840
Location
Kenya
Topics
Youth Programme
Global Support Assessment Tool

Share via

Share