Beads for Education

The project includes use of technological devices such as smart phones and iPad to train, monitor and follow up on the awareness and practical training on the required way of farming that will ensure friendly ecosystem is maintained. Some of the problems being addressed by the project are: global warming, climate change, degraded soils and chemical infiltrated crops grown and livestock kept. Some of the solutions being proposed are:

1. No till farming method
2. agroforestry
3. mixed farming
4. integrated pest control management
5. crop rotation
6. controlled solid waste management.
7. Herd Improvement

If these solutions are scaled globally, many lives will be touched including reduced lifestyle diseases brought about by contaminated foods, regular climatic conditions and friendly ecosystems.

Beads for Education has its operations in the Rift Valley province of Kenya ,Africa in the deep Maasai land. The area is semi-arid and most locals are pastoralists. They fully depend on meat, milk and meat and therefore totally dependent on the performance and survival of their livestock. However, there has been constant persistent droughts leading to death of several animals forcing the community to move miles and miles away in search for pasture and water. This has proven a great challenge that a great population of Maasai community face. According to the latest statistics, Kajiado county has 1.118 million while Narok county has 1.158 million people. This is a great population affected by this worrying climatic change. Rapid change in the climate is indeed caused by deforestation, poor farming activities and clearing of land that would as well help to preserve the nature and its habitats. In addition, the size of land has reduced with part of it being converted to conservatives and game reserves and game parks. This calls for a need to adopt an alternative source of food. Therefore, civil education and practicing of sustainable farming will reach out to a major part of the community which in turn will positively impact their lives as a community and globally at large.

Beads for Education runs a secondary school deep in Maasai community. My solution includes training of as many people as possible about the need to change how we handle our environment and farming. The project has provided smart phones and iPad to the teachers who in turn have sensitized the students majority of who are from the community. The students in turn have been mandated to train elders in the village and other village members on the conservation methods of farming to encourage replenishing of he nature in addition to planting of trees. The solution uses iPad and smartphones that are given to teachers and a number of students. This is to facilitate audio-visual communication and tracking of the progress of the students by teachers. Where there is poor connectivity, normal text messages and voice notes are put in use.

My solution serves as  an education tool to pastoralist communities in Kenya who depend on livestock for food. The solution enlightens them about the need to practice alternative conservative farming activities that will supplement their livestock. In addition, the solution helps to educate them on the need to conserve environment which in turn will make them well educated and informed as well as having sustainable production of crops apart from livestock to depend on for livelihood.

The problem am solving is all about the rapid climate change that has led to prolonged droughts. This indeed affects the pastoralists, the target group that I work closely with. The suggested solutions are met to help the target population to have an alternative source of food beside preserving our nature to ensure reduction in global warming which will guarantee steady climatic conditions hence possible to plan on the keeping of their livestock.

I selected this stage of development because the project solution is already underway. A good number of students have been trained theoretically and practically on conservation farming and they already started training the community, my mission being one girl training ten community members and the ten members training ten more each. There is already an established traditional herbal garden which includes most of the endangered indigenous tree species traditionally used as medicine. In addition, a bill has been drafted by one of the students, signed by community members after the training and submitted to the member of National Assembly to be tabled in the Kenyan parliament about the need to plant trees in arid and semi-arid areas.

Culture is one the roots that determines how a community or individuals work and behave. Maasai culture does not value education and especially girl-child education. The form of education is basically from grand parents to their grand children. Having been in Kenya for a good number of years and having sponsored many girls, we opened a school that will help in delivering critical thinking and best way of preserving our ecosystem. Establishment of the school to help equip girls from this vulnerable communities improved the approach in which the issue is handled. with this kind of approach, it is easier to reach out to as many community members as possible through teacher-student equipment and the student taking the knowledge to their villages with the help of the mentor teachers and communication gadgets.

The solution currently serves approximately 250 girls and 20 employees. In one year's time with the new intake of grade 9, the solution will be serving around 40 more girls. In five years, the solution will be serving approximately 500 individuals with more community members that will have been reached by the training. If the theory of the solutions withhold, with one girl teaching ten more community members who then teaches ten more, then in five years over 25,000 community members spread out in the vast Maasai land will have been reached.

1. One of the measurable indicator we use is the increased number of university enrollment from the girls we sponsor.

2. Increased demand of willing vulnerable students to be sponsored.

3. volunteer farming projects done by the students back in their communities during school recess.

I lead a team of 12 trained and qualified teachers, 7 support staffs that are also trained and equipped about the solution and 125 girls from grade 9 to grade 12 who are instrumental in reaching out to as many communities as possible.

We are well-positioned to deliver this solution because we have been supporting girls' education in Kenya since 1998. Several of the girls who graduated from BEADS for Education program work for us as teachers, our accountant, vice principal, outreach and development project coordinators.  Our school staff have been employed many years and are committed to our program of quality education and enrolling more girls in school. Our high school is a boarding school for 125 girls annually.  Community and cultural leaders have also been working with us since 1998 and are  highly committed to supporting quality education for girls. As more of our students graduate from collage they become role models and for their families/communities.  The awards and achievements of our girls speaks volumes to the community that girls should receive a quality education.  Two students were honored at the U.N.'s International Day of the girl, three students have been selected as Yale Young African Scholars, the Ministry of Tourism awarded one of our students the best student of the year, one girl has become an Ashoka Young Change Maker.

One of our teachers has developed an innovation for HundrED for online learning in remote areas.  His IT skills are taught to our students preparing them for digital literacy 

We teach a student centered interactive curriculum that emphasizes critical/creative thinking. These are the skills the students need to become problem solvers for their families, communities and the nation. We are ready to share our skills with school administrators and teachers. 

We have trained our students and staff on critical thinking and being problem solvers. we embrace diversity and inclusivity. this can be seen by our staff who come from different communities. our students too are not purely from Maasai community but also from other communities that live in Maasai land.

We have managed to enroll three of our girls' into Yale Young African Scholars program after applying to equip them and nature their leadership skills.

we have also managed to establish traditional medicinal garden that contains indigenous trees from all the 42 tribes of Kenya as a sign of our value and respect for diversity and inclusivity.

The stamp of approval to be selected by MIT as a Solver Team would immensely  elevate our donors respect. It would provide new donors with great confidence in our work. The media and conference exposure would provide the opportunities to develop new donors especially beginning the process of a long term endowment to secure our school and programming.

Professional support from MIT staff would be invaluable with technical support for online learning, developing a more intensive program for critical thinking, developing a monitoring and evaluation program and review of marketing and media exposure plan.

Although all of the sciences are taught most girls feel they are not capable. MIT could help us to develop a STEM program which would involve the girls in a much more meaningful way. A good STEM program would give the girls the confidence that they are capable. 

In addition, it will equip the girls to be change makers and engage in sustainable farming to ensure food security.

Working with other Solve Teams would provide more expertise following their successes. It would also be helpful to know what programs did not work and why.

MIT faculty to develop a food security program, improve our critical thinking program, and support for our computer literacy program.  This help will improve our teaching at our high school and reach out to community at large.

MIT faculty to help with long term business development, monitoring and evaluation plan.  Developing our skills more in these areas would definitely advance our progress.

sustainable agriculture will lead to clean, environment friendly ecosystem that balances itself and replenishes itself. In addition to restoration of the ecosystem back to its root, sustainable farming will assure food security for the communities and nation at large. Restored ecosystem and environment friendly ecosystem will indeed lower the risks of global warming. Since this is what my solution aims to achieve, I am certain that I qualify for this prize to help me achieve the goals.

For the last 23 years I have been working to empower girl child in the remote marginalized Maasai community where girl education is undermined. A total of 600 girls have had the opportunity to be sponsored, got quality education, got a career and got married to the husbands of their choice. I am still determined to sponsor more girls and equip girl child to be a better person. As the saying goes; "An educated girl is an educated village. I am determine to changing lives, one girl at a time.

For the success of the solution, Machine -power is required to ensure knowledge reaches the remote Maasai land where even connectivity is an issue. Those remote areas are the one am determined to reach to ensure sustainable Agriculture is taught and the communities are aware of the need to adopt an alternative source of food and not only to rely on livestock. I believe with the help of the prize, I can realize my dreams.

The most pressing issue of the Maasai community is gender inequality as fa as education is concerned. The solution seeks to first empower girl child with knowledge and make her a leader who will change their society. 

Another greater issue facing the society is the culture that is deep rooted. A change in the way of life to embrace sustainable farming is urgently needed because of the prolonged droughts and diminishing of land because of game parks and game reserves. This prize will help me to achieve my goals.