1. The role of culture and education in development
Is there a sustainable education model that creates open minds for the diversity of
culture and enables development in Kenya?

2. The team
People
•Muthoni Kaminjuki
•Eliphas Nyamogo
•Daniel Orwenjo
Institutions:
•Goethe Institut Nairobi
•DAAD Eastern Africa
•GIZ Kenya
Coordination
•Noemie Njangiru
•Elizabeth Maloba

3. The question
Focus on the link between
education, culture and development
•Theme - Developing a Sustainable Education
Model that Integrates Oral Culture, Visual or
Performing Arts and Digital Media Platforms in
Fostering Development
In Kenya (Africa)
•Emphasis is placed on oral communication as a
primary means of conveying information and
transferring knowledge
•Technology has increased the opportunities for
communication
Aim
•Support the integration of orally shaped
communities into the global information society

4. The process
Think tank meetings
•Face to face meetings, mobile phones
Online consultative forums
•APD, email
Workshop
•Practitioners, professionals and academics
Desk study
•complement information obtained from the
workshop and the field visits
Field studies
•cultural groups in Nyanza and Coast provinces
•Nailab
Publication
•proposes a model framework within which
development initiatives might be conceptualized

5. Integration of Orality
into new media
Predominant mode of
transfer of knowledge is
verbal/dialogue based
•TV/Film
•Music
•Radio
•Theatre
•Oral literature – spoken
word, storytelling, poetry
•ICT – mobile telephony,
social media platforms

6. New Media in Kenya
Kenya’s population estimated at
over 40 million
•at 30th June 2012 there were 29.7
million mobile telephony subscriptions
•contributed directly to development
e.g. through the mobile money transfer
service
•Internet penetration grew to 35.5% in
the quarter ending June 2012
•largely attributed to the popularity of
social media
•expected that this rising trend will
continue
•media industry has witnessed
remarkable growth
•The number of Kenyans listening to
radio exceed the sum total of those who
watch television and read print media

7. Integration of orality into education
Education system at independence had
challenges:
•based on a model of segregation that increased
inequality and made education inaccessible to
Africans
1985 – the 8-4-4 system was introduced:
•criticized for focusing excessively on passing exams
•lack of adequate co-curricular activities that are
necessary for mental, physical and talent
development
•not supporting the propagation of indigenous
knowledge and values
Currently, proposed reforms:
•Focus on developing problem solving and
innovation skills
•Reforms and changes in governance structures
carry with them an opportunity to address some of
the challenges inherent in the education system

8. Education in Kenya
Education has a great impact
on development
•enables individuals to perform
productive roles
•increases the options available to
an individual and empowers them
to gain control of their lives
Government (Kenyan)
identified education as a key
strategy to the social and
economic development of the
country in 1965

9. Recommendations
•Development activities should
adopt a value-addition approach
that incorporates what exists
and has worked in the Kenyan
context
•celebrate and safeguard the
orality of our culture by
documenting it – new media
would be of value
•Recognize the potential for
impact with regard to
development, that is to be
achieved if we take advantage of
the existing oral/dialogue based
media