Wide Reach Africa supported Jasiri in the Wavumbuzi Quest Development Workshop. A redacted version of this article was published by Kenya News Agency and The Star Newspaper (print) on November 18th.
In a groundbreaking session held on 11th November 2023, Wavumbuzi convened officials from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) in a workshop aimed at collaborating and enriching the educational landscape for Kenyan secondary/ high school learners. This comes ahead of a follow-up session that will bring together key stakeholders in the Kenyan education sector to forge the way for better institutionalizing Wavumbuzi in secondary/ high schools in the 2024 academic calendar and beyond. The workshop which was dubbed “Substantive Ecosystem Contribution through Capacity Enhancement of Quest Development” was characterized by intense brainstorming and in-depth discussions into the different upcoming thematic areas – referred to as Quests – within the next edition of the Wavumbuzi Entrepreneurship Challenge. The Challenges within each Quests focus on nurturing African entrepreneurship cases, whilst developing entrepreneurial competencies which mapped closely with the seven core Basic Education Core Competencies of Kenya as well as the 21st Century Skills.
Speaking during the session, Dr. Roselyn Marandu-Kareithi, Wavumbuzi’s Kenya Country Lead said that the workshop signifies a pivotal moment in the journey to redefine and reshape entrepreneurial education for learners. “Can you imagine an Africa where young people and their communities understand the importance of being an entrepreneur and they know that being employed in future is not the only option?” She posed. “That is what Wavumbuzi is all about; it contributes to all these dreams and targets being actualized.” She noted that the collective brainpower and expertise present during the session gave valuable insights that promise to drive the Wavumbuzi mission forward of being a sustainable intervention for young people in Kenya.
Echoing these sentiments, a participant mentioned, “Such collaborative efforts between Wavumbuzi and key stakeholders underscore the Kenyan government’s commitment to fostering entrepreneurial mindsets including financial literacy among learners. These learners represent the future, and it is imperative we equip them with skills and knowledge that resonate with global shifts.”
Dr. Roselyn went further to add, “Wavumbuzi is dedicated to a long-term vision of intentionally preparing our young people, from an early age, to be problem solvers, value creators, and to inspire them to become job creators instead of job seekers. To realize this vision, we have developed what we call “Quests” – thematic areas in emerging fields of the future,” she said. “Various entrepreneurial competencies are embedded in each Quest and are designed to stimulate thinking about potential opportunities in these thematic areas, fostering entrepreneurial mindset and aspiration within secondary/ high school learners throughout the country.”
Wavumbuzi Entrepreneurship Challenge has recently seen a significant increase in the number of schools participating with the latest edition having 973 schools from the previous 254. More than 20,300 learners registered for the Challenge and the Challenge submission increased to 531,000 from up 113,000 in the previous edition. For the very first time, learners from grade seven in Junior Secondary School (JSS) also participated, and more differently-abled learners also participated. This is thanks to the partnership with the Ministry of Education, where in Wavumbuzi was authorized to roll out the Entrepreneurship Challenge nationally.
According to Njoki Riguga, the Wavumbuzi Program Manager, Wavumbuzi seeks to recognize and celebrate the outstanding performance of secondary/ high school learners, teachers, schools, and counties. She notes that since inception, Wavumbuzi has expanded to incorporate Wavumbuzi Clubs in schools and mentoring of top learners, over and above the commonly known Wavumbuzi Entrepreneurship Challenge. The entrepreneurship challenge is a free annual six-week online Entrepreneurship Challenge which focuses on developing the entrepreneurial mindsets and aspirations of secondary/ high school learners across Kenya. Through a series of challenges and activities, learners are introduced to key concepts, allowing them to engage with community issues, think critically, and propose solutions.
“Next year we are looking at two things; In the first term, we will have learners engaging in a service learning activity whereby they will collaborate and practically solve a problem in their society, while in the second term, the next edition of the six weeks online Challenge will run. This is open to all secondary/high schools in the country,” she has said. Wavumbuzi aims to build the entrepreneurial aspirations of 1,000,000 young people in Eastern Africa by 2030. It is a pipeline-building program of the Jasiri High-Impact Entrepreneurship Program; a sister program to Wavumbuzi. “I recommend other schools take part very strongly in this program because it complements the curriculum as well as what government’s trying to do with getting people to take the initiative to become entrepreneurs and create their own employment rather than only going to be employees,” she said.
The workshop delved into a comprehensive overview of the Wavumbuzi Club structure and goals, integration of real-world challenges into the learning process, and coming up with a detailed roadmap detailing the next steps and strategies for the Wavumbuzi. The culmination of the workshop marked the beginning of an enhanced phase of Wavumbuzi – ie Wavumbuzi Clubs in Term I wherein secondary/high school learners will collaborate to solve a problem in their community through a Community Service Learning Activity; and in Term II, the next Wavumbuzi, Edition 5; and finally at the end of Term III, monitoring of the top performing learners – with all participants looking forward to its promising future.