Child Focus Africa
The Migwani Children's Dormitory Project

Project Updates

Check out the links below to learn about recent updates and milestones we have reached.

THE PROJECT

Proposed Dormitory Construction for the special education unit of Migwani AIC Primary School

Project Location:
Migwani AIC Primary School
Migwani location, Mwingi District, Kenya

The foundation has now been laid

Contact Person:
Paul Kenya
Programme Coordinator
Child Focus Africa
Email: qckaviti@yahoo.com
Tel: +254-725289076 (Kenya))
+1-250-962-8160 (Canada)

1.1 Project Overview

Child Focus Africa (CFA) is a community based organisation registered under the Non-Governmental Organisations Coordination Act of Kenya. CFA is based in Migwani, Mwingi, in the Eastern province of Kenya. CFA works with the children on empowerment through education and family support. With the increase of orphans in the local Community, CFA also embarks on voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) of HIV. CFA has helped to form support groups for youth and adults living with HIV in Migwani location. Our volunteers manage the daily operations of the Migwani Home Care and VCT Centre. Our work with vulnerable children includes the physically and developmentally challenged in the community. Our involvement in the needs of the vulnerable children is part of our campaign on the rights of the children. CFA has established the need to construct a dormitory to house forty-two developmentally challenged children in the rural town of Migwani. These children are part of the Migwani AIC Primary School. The dormitory will cost ksh 1,208,500 (CDN Dollars 18,791.6). The dormitory will help in the housing of these vulnerable children who are considered as a curse within the local culture. It will ensure supervised care, ease the burder of parents, enable the children to attend school and enhance their developmental needs. The project will bring together the school management, local government representatives and community members as they share responsibilities in the project cycle. Through this project, the community will be more sensitized on the plight of these children and a sense of ownership in the overall project will be achieved.

1.2 Project Location

Migwani location is in Mwingi district in the Eastern province of Kenya. Residents of Migwani are from the Kamba tribe. The government estimates the population of Mwingi district to be 303,828 individuals with a population density of 30. Migwani location hosts 56,907 individuals with a population density of 101 people (1999 census). 88.4% of the Eastern province relies on farming with 3.3 million acres in the province under crop production (mostly maize (corn)). Residents however continue to face food poverty due to failing rain seasons. The number of people in Kenya living with less than two dollars a day is at 58.5%. the overall poverty in Eastern province was estimated at 65.9% in 2005 and 51% in 2006. Poverty in Kenya remains a rural phenomenon and Migwani has not been spared. Macro economic and demographic factors in Migwani have impacted negatively on the income, growth potential, population and public sector performance. These factors play vitals roles in respect to education and training in the region and have imposed constrains on the education sector development.

The poor economic performance in Kenya has led to rising poverty levels. The fact that the country’s economy has not been performing as expected in recent years means that it cannot support the realization of the Universal Primary Education (UPE) goals without the infusion of outside funds. Although the government established the Free Primary Education policy in 2003, for the country to sustain universal access, there will be a need for accelerated ecomonic growth to generate public funds for education. Otherwise, prioritising UPE has taken away from the provision for other sectors such as special education needs. This has created gaps and affects vulnerable children as in the case of those at the Migwani Special Unit for the developmentally challenged.

1.3 Project Rationale

The Migwani Special Education Unit was established in 1988 and catered then for five learners who were ay scholars. In 2000, it had fourteen learners and the school opted to turn this into a boarding facility. One classroom was turned into the first dormitory. The school say the need to follow up on supporting the children and acknowledged the needs of the poor parents. Currently, the unit has forty-two learners (28 boys and 14 girls). Besides boarding, the learners need special care, food and clothing. The need for a dormitory is also based on the lack of orientation on the community and parents on the developmental needs of these challenged children. The children are isolated at home and are sometimes locked away as they are considered a nuisance. Some families consider it a taboo allowing their regular children mixing with these children. By boarding these children, the school can constantly supervise and train them on how to develop and adapt to the challenges they face. The children share the same compound and playing facilities with the regular school children and are not discriminated against while at school. Though the government realizes that education and training contributes to national development; special education in Kenya suffers from inadequate funding, lack of clear policy framework and the low progress in assessing and placing children with disabilities. The new Free Primary Education policy has made primary education compulsory to all school age going children, forcing the units enrolment to go up. The government however only pays for instructional materials to facilitate classroom learning. The school relies on the parents and well-wishers to meet it’s boarding and feeding expenses. There are few qualified teachers to handle children with special needs with lack of teaching and learning resources among others. In 2007, one teacher was identified and training on the needs of children and is currently in charge of the unit. The Special Unit charges each parent a fee of KSH 1600 (25 CDN dollars) for every school semester (3 months).

1.4 Project Implementation

CFA proposes to build a dormitory to house the 42 developmentally challenged children from the Special Unit. Through consultations, the school and local community have acknowledged this need and have pledged their support. The CFA Program Manager will be the overall responsible person for the project completion and accountability. The community will appoint a site supervisor who will work with CFA and school team. He will be paid a stipend. The CFA Field Coordinator in Migwani will be the Project Manager. CFA will develop Terms of Refrence (TOR), which will be signed at the beginning of project by those involved in the project management. At the end of the project, the sixteen-roomed dormitory will house the forty-two learners together with a caretakers room and bathroom facilities. The school committees have identified local contractors who will be in charge of the building. The community will collect and supply water, sand and gravel (stones) for the duration of the building. Sand and gravel are easily available in the community. The local area chief (government representative) and the school management committee (SMC) have volunteered to coordinate the collection and storage. The community will also provide timer needed for the construction. A mid project and end project evaluation will be conducted during the project cycle. The project reviews/evaluation will serve as internal self-evaluation as well as offer project status, funds accountability and report any unforeseen outcomes and how they were addressed. A member of the CFA committee, independent from the project management and a local external operating partner, will conduct the evaluations. It is estimated that the dormitory building will be completed within five months.

1.5 Budget

The budget proposed is based on an assessment conducted by the school and verified by the local CFA Field Coordinator. All materials are locally available. As stated above, the community will provide some building materials.

1.6 Conclusion

The lack of opportunities to the poor to improve their livelihoods and have access to basic social services, unequal distribution of opportunities to the marginalized and poor health and HIV/AIDS epidemic have been identified as key factors leading to rise in poverty levels in Kenya. School Management Committees feel that they are seriously constrained to improve the state of learning facilities due to the government’s ban on any additional school levies since the Free Primary Education (FPE) policy. At the same time, conditions laid down to request for approvals to institute new levies are so cumbersome that they hestitate to embark on the process. The current cost of FPE is way beyond the normal education budget allocation. The fact that the country’s economy had not been performing as expected in recent years means that it cannot support the realization of the UPE goals without compromising certain sectors. Child Focus Africa believes that every child has a right to access education and should be supported in all aspects of their social development. By engaging the community in this project, the deteriorating roles of family support among the Kamba community will be re-established and these vulnerable children will have a better learning environment. The communities’ understanding of the needs of the developmentally challenged will be enhanced. 

Thank you to the above sponsors who's support has helped make this project a success!