One Big Change Kenya
Helping Kenya turn Competency-Based Education from national policy into consistent, sustainable school practice. A discussion proposal for a three-month implementation and co-design phase with ten founding schools.
Kenya has already done the hardest design work. It has:
- established the Competency-Based Education (CBE) direction;
- developed the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and Competency-Based Assessment (CBA);
- introduced Senior School pathways, with the pioneer cohort entering Grade 10 in January 2026;
- invested in classrooms, teacher preparation and learning infrastructure.
Kenya is not at the beginning of reform. It is at the point where the reform must become consistent everyday practice across schools with very different circumstances.
The first Grade 10 transition has shown the difference between having a national system and making it work equally well everywhere. Four pressures stand out:
Schools have different levels of readiness
Teacher confidence and classroom practice remain uneven
Resources and specialist capability are not distributed equally
Families and communities also need to understand and support the transition
The central question is:
How can the same national policy become practical, well-supported and sustainable across schools with very different circumstances?
Detailed evidence and sources are available in a separate annex on request.
4
Implementation pressures
10
Founding schools
3 months
Initial phase
The implementation challenge is not policy design. It is making policy work consistently across different schools.
One Big Change Kenya is a Kenyan-led implementation framework that helps schools identify barriers, coordinate practical support and build the local capability needed to make existing education policy work and last.
One Big Change does not replace what exists. It organises what exists so everyone moves in the same direction. The simplified mechanism is:
The Ministry sets the direction. One Big Change helps the whole system deliver it. Different roles. Shared responsibility. One Big Change.
A three-month implementation and co-design phase
We are proposing to work with Kenyan education leaders to establish whether One Big Change can strengthen the implementation of CBE, CBC and CBA through an initial three-month phase involving ten strategically selected schools.
The first phase would include:
- A Kenyan Advisory Committee;
- Ten founding schools from strategically selected education contexts;
- A Change Lens completed collaboratively with each school;
- School-level baselines;
- Identification of common and local barriers;
- Selected Kenyan, African and international expertise;
- University-supported evidence design;
- A resource-needs map;
- Development of a costed Year 1 implementation plan.
The role of the Kenyan Advisory Committee
The Committee does not shape national policy. It helps ensure that the response is:
- aligned with existing policy;
- informed by Kenyan experience;
- practical for schools;
- connected to useful knowledge and resources;
- designed for sustainability.
The county-selection framework
The ten founding schools will be drawn from strategically selected counties representing Kenya's varied education contexts. The framework selects one county from each of the following types:
Final counties are selected with Kenyan stakeholders.
10
Counties
10
Founding schools
1
Advisory committee
One Big Change does not replace what exists. It organises what exists so everyone moves in the same direction.
By the end of Month 3, there should be:
Ten school implementation baselines
One shared picture
A refined implementation programme
A proposed Hub structure
A costed Year 1 proposition
A decision point
Stakeholders decide whether to move into the Year 1 implementation phase.
This makes the proposal disciplined. We are not pretending the final design is already known.
The proposed Year 1 pathway may include:
- The ten founding schools continuing as one national learning cohort;
- Each founding school connecting up to nine additional schools;
- Up to ten emerging Hubs;
- One implementation workshop per school term;
- Individual school support between workshops;
- Hub-based peer learning;
- Targeted expert and Traction Partner support;
- Train-the-trainer;
- University-supported evidence;
- LocaeAwards and LocaeFest as mechanisms for sharing practice, recognition and collective learning.
Potential reach
Up to 100 schools
Subject to evidence, agreement and funding.
The Year 1 pathway is subject to the findings of the three-month founding phase.
Kenyan public institutions
Schools and educators
Kenyan Advisory Committee
Experts
Universities
Traction Partners
LocaeRise
Who is leading this
One Big Change Kenya is led by LocaeRise. Strategic partnerships and growth are led by Kugan, Growth Steward. Community engagement and inclusion are led by Jachuckwu, Community Steward. Kenya institutional relationships and strategic introductions are led by Jimmy, Director of Strategic Partnerships and Institutional Relations, Kenya. The broader LocaeRise team brings school improvement, partnership, digital, resource and communications capability.
Full team profiles are available on the website.
Relationships and conversations under development
- University of Northampton confirmed relationship (work developed with LocaeRise).
- University of Greenwich confirmed relationship (programme and research relationship).
- University of Oxford exploratory conversation.
- Mastercard Foundation potential Traction Partner conversation.
No other organisation is listed as a partner until formally agreed.
Help us open the right conversations with Kenyan education leaders and organisations that could advise on, host or support the three-month founding phase.
More specifically:
- Introduce us to relevant national education leaders;
- Identify potential Kenyan Advisory Committee members;
- Advise on the most appropriate institutional route;
- Identify possible founding schools or education networks;
- Introduce potential university, funding or resource partners;
- Participate in an initial discussion.
Convene an initial discussion
That is the first step. The full system remains behind it, ready to be introduced when the relationship is ready.
Our central promise
Kenya has set the direction. One Big Change helps schools identify what is needed, brings the right support together and builds the local capability to make the change work and last.
Our central ask
Join us in shaping a three-month founding phase with ten schools, from which a credible and costed Year 1 implementation plan can be developed.
For institutions considering participation or commissioning
A detailed implementation, outcomes and financial proposal is available for Ministry, procurement, legal and financial scrutiny.
Convene an initial discussion
If this is relevant to your work, we would welcome a conversation.