Earlier this year, the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development asked Kenyans to give them their views on curriculum reform. #CurriculumReformsKE developed round the views of #KOT; providing a confluence of views. People were engaged, opinionated, driven to contribute to the conversation, to share their experiences and recommendations. Everyone is impacted in some ways by education and the trending topic it became on two occasions showed just how much they care.
It was a big lesson for us; there is a need to build a community round education information. A place where people can learn and talk about education policy, practice, and proposals. It led to the idea that is Drawing Board Africa. A chance for us to tell data-driven stories about education in Kenya that are accessible and help to inform conversations and shape discourse.
The people behind Drawing Board, Melissa Mbugua, Nyambura Mutanyi & Laila Le Guen, are passionate about education and have varied skills among them tech, teaching, research, communication and social impact management. We bring this to our storytelling and we anticipate it’ll enrich the stories we shall tell using text, data visualisation, and audio clips.
We intend to set off in the new year and create a resource that will hopefully lead to more nuanced conversations about education, an audience that is engaged in education policy, and pithy pieces that are cool and shareable. An #InnovateAfrica grant would make a world of difference for us. It would enable us to tell stories like one we’ve mulled over for a while — What arc has special needs education had in Kenya? How is it funded? What opportunities exist? — and the many more that need to be told.
What stories would you like told about education in Kenya? Tell us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and use #DrawingBoardAfrica. We look forward to bringing them to life!
(This was originally posted on Medium and I’m happy to share it here. Really excited about Drawing Board and what we’ve set off to achieve.)
Nyambura Mutanyi 