Wajir Peace and Development Agency (WPDA)
Wajir peace and development agency (wpda)
Education and Child Protection
North Eastern Counties has low access to primary and secondary school education compared to other counties. In Kenya. The participation of pupils in primary and secondary education in North Eastern Counties remains a key challenge (with primary school most affected)
The acquisition of primary education is affected by the nomadic pastoralists’ nature of most families which depend on livestock as the main source of income and thus are forced to move from place to place in search for pasture and water. The hardships associated with ASAL regions (in terms of harsh climatic conditions, extreme poverty, food insecurity, drought and famine, among others. Poor teacher-pupil ratio which is always below the national average, 4) internal and external conflicts (especially clan conflicts), and 5) insecurity (from the threat of terrorism and feeling insecure at homes and schools).
WPDA by addressing these distinctive social, cultural and economic challenges by introducing – Peace Education Network which is one of the institutions established by Wajir Peace and Development Agency in its effort to sustain peace after years of hard search and striving for peace in an atmosphere of turmoil. The network targets the youth in school both secondary and primary schools.
WPDA as result experience and knowledge on pastoralist conflicts did recognize that the youth are the most vulnerable members of the society, who easily fall prey to the manipulative techniques of ethnic power brokers and hence abused to engage in violent combat activities as clan militias. The youth with all their energy and of course and their inherent incapacity to soberly weigh potential dangers to themselves have been known to be hired as hooligans and combatants in Wajir.
Lessons learnt from the ugly incidents of unrest in schools both locally and nationally which resulted destruction of properties and above loss of lives, sent signals for the need to have structures to collect early warning indicators, interpret the same and institute appropriate prevention and rapid response measures.
In an effort to mitigate the recurrence of such activities, the WPDA mooted the idea of involving youth both in and out of school in community peace building initiative.
The justification to develop Peace Education Programme in schools may be summarized as follows: –
- The WPDA does recognize that the youth constitutes about 35% of the pastoral population. In the past, the youth have been neglected as peace stakeholders. This state of affair has denied the invaluable contribution of the youth in peace building and decision-making in the community. There is therefore the need to integrate, educate, train, and hence empower them to participate in peace building programmes.
- To achieve perpetual succession in peacebuilding activities, the youth must be prepared to take over future leadership roles in the community as responsible citizens. There was therefore the need for WPDA to equip and improve the capacity of the youth through a comprehensive peace programme that involves the support and encouragement of youth participation in schools.
- Gender issues involve equity and not equality in the treatment of men and women in politico-socio-economic development issues. However, gender imbalance in the pastoralist community remains a matter of concern.
This is attributed to the fact that: –
- The pastoralist women are not sufficiently empowered at early stages to compete effectively with men.
- Cultural and deliberate distortions of Islamic religious norms also have continued to inhibit their participation.
It is in recognition of this imbalance that, WPDA advocates for peace education programmes in schools with a view to design, support and develop initiatives to correct the imbalance and psychologically prepare the pastoralist school girl to effectively claim her role in the society and build her confidence and assertiveness in the society. While, training the boy-child to appreciate in future the reality and need for gender balance. WPDA also provides support and guidance for children whose rights have been/are being violated and for children in direct contact with the law.
WPDA has also been address the most critical gaps to improve foundational learning in early grades by-
- Support in provision of teaching and learning materials
- Capacity building for teachers
- Enrollment drives
- quality assurance support 24 technical officers to undertake quality assurance assessment
- Support in the provision Play equipment