2. Abstract
● Purpose: assess non-governmental organization Nıkumbuke Health by
Motorbıke’s Stars Scholarship program among the Maasai in Lunga Lunga
● Education access in Kenya is limited for students in rural areas, and the Maasai
have been marginalized in terms of education provision.
○ In Lunga Lunga, it is common to pay for school fees first for the boys, and then for the girls if
funds allow. In addition, early marriage is common, so drop out rates are high.
● Stars Scholarship Fund: provides scholarships for 27 adolescent girls to cover
the cost of their elementary school fees
○ Prevailing challenges: the Maasai girls face discrimination at boarding school and cultural
barriers that make returning to their village unlikely.
● Final recommendation: introduction of open after-school forums in the short
term, and consideration of neighborhood schooling for the long term
3. Background: MDGs and EFA
● Addressing gender equality in education has been a key concern of global policy
for more than a decade (Verger)
4.
5. Background: Education in Maasailand, Kenya
● Educational disparities are especially evident in rural Kenya
○ Maasailand has the highest primary and secondary school dropout rates in Kenya
● Few primary schools, and fewer than a handful of secondary schools
○ Makes travel and expenses prohibitively high for many families
● Women are disproportionately affected by disease and illness such as HIV/AIDS
○ In Lunga Lunga, young girls are especially vulnerable due to the prevalence of FGM and early
marriage
6. Background: Nikumbuke Health by Motorbike
● Started as a “health project for sustainable development”
● Soon after the women’s health training program began, Health by Motorbike
developed well being programs
○ These included: the planting of Moringa trees, creation of a female soccer league, training to
make solar lights, creation of a micro-loan business incubator program, and making of the Stars
Scholarship fund
● 27 girls, ~US$27 per girl
○ Focus on girls because in Lunga Lunga, many parents value boys’ education over girls.
7. The Effect of Primary School on the Maasai girls
● Goal of 27 “Stars Scholars”: to be like the girls from other communities
○ Go to school, get good jobs, and explore
● Some want to stay in Lunga Lunga, but most want to become independent and
leave the community
○ The girls may face FGM or early marriage post-schooling if they return
○ Parents worry that if they send the girls to secondary school, they will leave the community and
not maintain tradition
● Challenges in school:
○ Bullying due to cultural differences
○ “Can’t ask many questions fearing to be beaten”
● Despite these issues, the girls still want to go to secondary school
8. Power Analysis
● Actors
○ Dr. Alonso
○ Local government
○ Bendettah Thomas and other community leaders
○ 27 Stars Scholars
● Spaces of power
○ Closed space: Dr. Alonso and Bendettah make
decisions about the Stars Scholarship program
○ Open spaces: Community leaders hold forums to
decide which well being programs to ask Dr. Alonso
for funding for
○ Unknown power: Dr. Alonso discussed her hope to
include the girls’ needs in every decision, but no
conversations have been had between her and the girls
Dr. Alonso
The 27 Maasai Girls
Bendettah
Thomas, other
community
leaders
Local
govt
9. Building Trust
● Unique case: trust is already central to the partnership
○ Examples: Dr. Alonso’s trust of community leaders, Bendettah Thomas’ trust of Dr. Alonso and
the other leaders around Lunga Lunga
● Where it is still needed
○ Build trust with the 27 girls
○ Dr. Alonso was not aware of the issues the girls faced in school because the girls would only tell
her about the positive aspects of schooling
○ Community leader Bendettah Thomas has a good relationship with the girls, but Dr. Alonso,
who has the ability to fund a solution, only sees them once a year
○ Needed: open space, like a forum, for the girls to connect with each other and escape bullying
○ In future: explore neighborhood schooling to see if the girls would be more likely to stay
