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ADVANCING INCLUSIVE AND INNOVATIVE DIGITAL EDUCATION FOR MIGRANT COMMUNITY IN KENYA & SOMALIA (IIDEMIC)

 

A consortium of 6 partners from four countries, namely, Kenya, Somalia, Turkey and Poland has received a multi-country, cross regional Grant of 719,939 Euro from the European Union through the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) (Erasmus+EDU-2023-CBHE STRAND 2 – Capacity Building in Higher Education). This multi-faceted, multi-country Grant Proposal development was coordinated by ³Ô¹ÏÍ·Ìõ’s Department of Educational Communication & Technology, School of Education & Lifelong Learning, through the leadership of Dr. Adelheid Marie Bwire as the Project Coordinator. Other faculty are Dr. Marguerite K. Miheso- O’Connor and Dr. Francis Mwangi (Ed. Comtech), Dr. Beatrice Bunyasi (Early Childhood and Special Needs – School of Education), Dr. Priscilla Ndegwa (Business Administration – School of Business, Economics and Tourism) and Dr. Mildred Nawiri, Chemistry – School of Pure and Applied Sciences)

The initial team that conceptualized the IIDEMIC Project. (Photo, Courtesy Comtech Department)

About the Project

The Project, dubbed INCLUSIVE AND INNOVATIVE DIGITAL EDUCATION FOR MIGRANT COMMUNITY IN KENYA AND SOMALIA (IIDEMIC) seeks to promote use of soft skills to enhance employability; enhance interaction using inclusive and innovative digital tools and promote teacher practice in classrooms to reflect integration of 21st century skills. This is in tandem with the global drive to enhance software and capacity building on technical skills necessary to achieve SDGs (UNESCO, 2014). The SDGs are a universal call to action to end poverty and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity and that development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability. Quality teacher education programmes should be responsive to global standards like 21st century skills in education and Agenda 2063. The Project will draw on the expertise of the Kenya Institute of Special Education and ³Ô¹ÏÍ·Ìõ Directorate of Disabilities which have the capacity and expertise to provide guidance on creation and implementation of resource centres to take care of migrants and refugees with special needs and disabilities. The project will develop multi-disciplinary inclusive education modules to develop teachers’/trainers’ skills in inclusive pedagogy in order to enhance/increase employability. IIDEMIC therefore, seeks to strengthen soft skill competencies among Somali refugees in Kenya and Somalia envisioning that it will improve their entrepreneurial innovation and ability to embrace technology; critical in building their future skills and competencies.

 

Dwelling Shelters at Dadaab Refugee Camp

Mothers and their children at Dadaab Refugee Camp

In its pursuit for inclusiveness and service to humanity, the Project will also leverage on KU’s Centre for Refugee Studies and Empowerment which is intended to implement and coordinate educational projects for refugees and host communities. This Centre’s mission is to empower refugees, host communities and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) through tertiary education, research and partnerships in refugee camps in Kakuma and Dadaab. Further, IIDEMIC will support the KU Dadaab campus, where refugee students take studies through digital programmes and access academic facilities by providing academic, professional and technical support. Therefore, IIDEMIC will focus on inclusive education for migrants and refugees, leveraging on digital space. This will be done through soft skills competency modules in Kenya and Somalia Universities. Among the objectives of the project are:

• To create a lifelong learning platform that is accessible to the refugee and migrant population that will be used to build requisite capacities aimed at increasing employability opportunities in Kenya and Somalia.
• Develop an accessible data centre with adaptive features to cater for different kinds of disabilities and to assist refugees and migrants with special needs and disabilities access vital information.
• Develop an Inclusive Education programme, with appropriate equipment aimed at developing teachers’ skills in inclusive pedagogy.
• Strengthen soft skill competencies among Somali refugees in Kenya and IDPs in Somalia to improve their entrepreneurial innovation and uptake of opportunities afforded through technology.
• Promote teacher practice and use of assistive technologies for refugees and migrants
• Integrate 21st century soft skills in supporting ALL beneficiaries
• Harness the capacity of ICT to improve access, quality, and management of education and training systems among Somali migrants.

 

Training modules will be developed based on various areas focused on the 21^stÌýcentury graduate, namely: 1. Contemporary Instructional Methods for Teaching Adult Learners, 2. Adaptive Instructional Resources; 3. Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages; 4. Entrepreneurship; 5. Digital and Assistive Technology Learning Tools; 6. Inclusive Education for Migrants & Refugees; 7. Basic Health Education; 8. Maternal and Child Health & Promotion; 9. Guidance & Counselling – Reintegration; 10. Cultural Diversity, Democracy & Translanguaging.

 

The Beneficiaries of the IIDEMIC Project will be HEIs academic and technical staff, in-service teachers and ongoing professional trainees in areas that cover the project issues and mothers and children. One of the short-term effects will be to enhance the quality and content delivery to the participants and personal enrolment into the courses/modules by the participants. The long-term effect from this project will be the creation of more competent and skilled graduates and professional experts through innovative and inclusive training and exposure to comprehensive modules. A unique aspect to the IIDEMIC Project is the focus on people living with disability and those generally marginalized. The Kenyan and Somali HEIs` teaching staff will be professional trainers in the field, showing the way to other Kenyan and Somali HEIs` staff to adopt the programme or its elements at their HEIs.Ìý After the project completion, the developed programme will be introduced in the Education system at targeted Kenyan and Somali HEIs on a continuous basis.

 

The Grant Agreement was signed between ³Ô¹ÏÍ·Ìõ and the European Union while the Partnership agreement was signed bilaterally between ³Ô¹ÏÍ·Ìõ and each of the 6 partners, namely: Masinde Muliro University – Kenya; Mogadishu University – Somalia; Red Sea University – Somalia; Uniwersytet WSB Merito W Poznaniu (WSB) – Poland; Kutahya Dumlupinar Universitesi (DPU) – Turkey. The Ministry of Education, State Department for Higher Education, is an Affiliate Partner.

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