GEF Kenya Young Leaders Program

About GEF Kenya. GEF Kenya is overseen by a local Board of Trustees of well-respected Kenyan women and men, and is led by a local Kenyan Executive Director. GEF Kenya is taking stock of its experiences over the past three years with a view to strengthening the mentoring and leadership activities for the Young Leaders and creating a long-term tracking system. GEF Kenya plans to continue their partnership with Ashoka and to expand to have all GEF Young Leaders participate in this leadership program.

GEF Kenya’s Young Leaders Program works with promising students who would otherwise not be able to attend secondary school and with program alumni on post-secondary job readiness support. Since the program began, efforts have been focused in the slums in Embakasi, an underserved and densely populated area in Nairobi. GEF Kenya supports students through their four years of secondary schooling with a holistic approach to education that includes: scholarships, leadership skills, mentoring, experiential learning and family/community involvement. Students participate in all program components and are tracked and closely monitored during and after secondary school.
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Young Leaders Program components include:

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Scholarships. Promising students living in poverty apply to GEF Kenya for competitive four-year scholarships to a quality secondary school in Kenya.
Leadership. The heart of the Young Leaders program is building and developing leadership, critical thinking, and problem solving skills. All GEF Kenya scholars participate in this training to build their strengths, perseverance, and personal power so they can apply these to understand, think critically about and problem solve some of Kenya’s most pressing issues. A partnership with Ashoka’s Young Changemaker’s program is giving the GEF Kenya scholars important experiential learning that requires each student to consider and address a problem or need in their community.
Mentoring. Scholars are linked to Young Leaders alumni who have completed secondary school. The alumni provide academic support, advice, and leadership advice to the younger students.
Experiential learning. Scholars apply leadership training in real world situations. In past sessions, students have examined issues ranging from food security to job markets. The topics are based on student input. The model of facilitated discussion, visits to places encountering real-life situations, and follow-up problem solving enables students to explore real issues through a pragmatic lens and to use 21st century skills relevant to job market potential.
Role models for girls. GEF Kenya has provided opportunities for female graduates and girls from other nonprofit organizations to serve as role models and peer counselors to GEF Kenya girl scholars. In a recent study by UNESCO, female role models are an important factor in girls’ academic success, particularly in developing countries. GEF Kenya has supported girls-only settings where girls support each other to do better academically and to stay in school.
Post-secondary support. GEF Kenya conducts a competition with a panel of local experts (NGO leaders, university professors and entrepreneurs) to select and award post-secondary grants to recent graduates to help them obtain training certifications. Recent alumni have won grants to take accounting, business management, entrepreneurship, banking and finance, nursing, and journalism classes and/or internships. This process gives the alumni a leg up into the job market and also teaches students about research, budgeting, and effective communication (both oral and written), which they engage in to prepare for the competition.
Parental and community engagement. Parents and community have a great impact on the development and education of youth. Knowing this, GEF Kenya facilitates discussions with parents and community leaders to support student progress. Parents widely participate in the once-a-semester sessions and have indicated they gained valuable knowledge about supporting and raising their teenagers.
Literacy and textbook support. Many Young Leaders do not have adequate learning materials at their schools or a quiet place to study, as a result of living in noisy urban slums and families living in small quarters. To meet these needs, GEF Kenya has established a small library in partnership with a local youth organization, purchased exam prep materials to support their studies and engaged with teachers to ensure needed space for studying.