Long-term Program: Secondary School Scholarship & Service Program

While primary education is free, secondary education is not, and only 10% of students get more than an 8th grade education. Kilifi Rotary Club and its partners seek to provide educational scholarships to cover all associated costs—tuition, textbooks, and uniforms. The students would also receive computer training. (The computers will be sent to Kilifi through a concurrent project.) Computer skills are considered an important skill in getting higher-paying jobs in Kilifi.

Beyond creating productive members of the economy, the secondary school component also aims to create community leaders and spark the call to service in each student supported. In addition to keeping their grades up, sponsored students will have service duties to fulfill—students will need to establish and join an Interact Club and participate in a project, whether that be teaching computer classes to outside community members or younger siblings or teaching health education to primary school students.

The scholarships are a means to prepare the next generation of leaders in the community—much like the role Rotarians fill in the US or around the world. The education component should serve to prepare these students to be business or professional leaders. The service component should serve to prepare students to understand the importance of taking the lead in giving back and helping others.

Costs in Kilifi are approximately $250 per year, for a full cost of $1,000 over the life of the program, which is well beyond the means of families making, on average, $360 per year.  Although final scholarship criteria is not set, the scholarship will be focusing on girls—gender inequality is a persistent roadblock to economic development in Kenya, and a greater return on investment is seen when girls are given more opportunities.

For more information about the positive effects of education, please visit a great overview by the World Bank.

Measuring Success

This program for secondary school students will be based upon a program by ICS called Girls’ Scholarship Program. That program selects students based on test scores for full scholarships to secondary schools. The school receives full tuition payment and families receive payment for uniforms, textbooks, and other incidental costs required for attending secondary school in Kenya. Randomized studies of the ICS program show significant gains in primary school (when there is competition for the scholarships) and in secondary schools. Even populations who were not eligible for the project (boys, in that scholarship program) demonstrated an increase in test scores and in school participation.

The service requirements for grant winners are an innovation in this project. While coordination time is required, minimal financial costs will be incurred in materials or professional services. The available metrics for evaluation will, at this point, include number of hours spent in service project, success rates of service requirement completion, and self-reported attitude towards service.

Project Update

• July 28:  After our (traveling US team members-- Michael, Marc, Gary) visit to Kilifi, we feel very confident about the project.  For the scholarships, we will be pairing with a small organization call Kesho (which means "Tomorrow" in Swahili.)  They already sponsor about 40 kids to secondary school, with most of their funding coming from the UK.  One of the leaders of the project, Zena, was extremely impressive.  The leaders of the organization take great pains to screen the potential children, to ensure the funds are properly managed and to review the academic performance of the students.  Every term, they have a "Kesho day" for the kids, recognizing their achievements, and preparing for the next term.  They are excited to be able to help more kids with the help of Rotary and Kilifi Kids' donors. 
  
  
• August 21:  We have our final budget numbers, and assuming we get RI matching grants, we will be able to assist 50 students for four years, on a budget of just under US$60,000.

More Information

The World Bank hosts an primer detailing how education helps a developing community.

For a discussion of the ICS project, including a randomized evaluation, please see:

Glewwe, Paul and Michael Kremer. 2005. “Schools, Teachers, and Education Outcomes in Developing Countries.” Handbook on the Economics of Education.