The One Big Change framework, in full.
The shared purpose, the implementation model, the change lens, the four pillars, the hubs, coordinated support, and the evidence that holds it all together.
A defining period for Kenyan education.
Kenya is undertaking an ambitious transformation of education. Its success will depend not only on policy design, but on the capacity of institutions, teachers, leaders and communities to translate national priorities into everyday practice.
Kenya already has strong professional knowledge, established institutions and a growing research base. The opportunity is to connect these strengths more deliberately, introduce relevant external insight where useful, and create stronger feedback between policy, implementation and evidence.
What One Big Change is, and is not.
One Big Change is
- ✓A structured way for institutions and practitioners to work together
- ✓A framework for turning priorities into coordinated action
- ✓Kenyan-led with international collaboration where invited
- ✓Designed to build evidence for what works in Kenya's context
One Big Change is not
- ✕A foreign solution imposed on Kenya
- ✕A one-off training programme
- ✕A substitute for public leadership
- ✕A commercial product for purchase
Areas of national importance.
Long-term Ambition
To help Kenya develop education approaches that are effective in its own context and influential across Africa and beyond.
One Big Change does not arrive with a fixed external answer. It creates a disciplined process through which Kenyan institutions and practitioners can develop, test and strengthen responses together.
Competency-Based Education.
The first One Big Change programme addresses the hardest part of Kenya's curriculum reform: turning the ambition of Competency-Based Education into everyday classroom practice.
The Challenge
Kenya's Competency-Based Education reform is one of the most significant curriculum shifts in the country's history. Its success depends on the daily work of teachers, leaders and learners in every county.
The gap is rarely policy. It is implementation: the professional support, feedback and evidence needed to make a national curriculum live in every classroom, every term.
Goals
What this programme sets out to do.
- Strengthen practical implementation of Competency-Based Education across participating schools
- Build the professional capacity of teachers and school leaders to deliver CBC with confidence
- Generate rigorous evidence on what supports effective CBC practice in Kenyan classrooms
- Create reusable professional resources that outlast any single workshop cycle
Focus Areas
Where the work concentrates.
Curriculum translation
Turning CBC learning areas into classroom-ready practice.
Teacher capacity
Workshops and coaching that build confidence in competency-based teaching.
School leadership
Leading the conditions for competency-based practice to thrive.
Assessment for learning
Formative assessment that informs teaching and learner progress.
Research
A learning agenda, not a fixed answer.
The programme publishes its theory of change, evaluation questions and emerging findings openly. Research is participatory: practitioners help shape the questions, not only answer them.
Explore the evidence plan →Resources
Professional resources that outlast a workshop.
Practice guides, workshop materials and leader tools are developed with educators and made available to every participating county and school.
Browse resources →Programme Dashboard
A live dashboard for this programme will share progress and learning as the work develops.
Our first shared priority
Our working challenge is:
What is preventing schools from turning the new education system into consistent whole school practice, and what coordinated support would help?
This will be sharpened through stakeholder conversations with Kenyan institutions and educators.
Before we finalise the first priority, we must validate it with:
Why begin here?
Kenya has already established the direction of travel. The next challenge is helping implementation remain practical, consistent and responsive across very different schools and communities.
One Big Change begins with the work already under way and asks how the whole education village can help it travel further.
Listening comes before action. Evidence comes before scaling.
How One Big Change Works
A structured journey from shared priority to supported implementation and evidence.
Define
A partner identifies one clearly bounded education priority.
Convene
Public bodies, educators, unions, researchers and specialists are brought together.
Co-design
Participants develop a practical response grounded in Kenyan realities and evidence.
Implement
The response is delivered through supported cohorts, milestones and structured implementation.
Evaluate
Researchers and participants examine implementation, experience, outcomes and effects.
Strengthen
The response is revised and considered for further adoption where evidence supports it.
Before we act, we listen.
The Change Lens is a shared diagnostic that helps schools and partners identify strengths, barriers, support needs and progress.
It is not an inspection, ranking or judgement of schools.
The findings from the Change Lens determine what support, experts, equipment, funding or technology are brought in. We do not begin with experts and try to fit them into the project. We listen first, then respond.
What it identifies
- Strengths to build on
- Readiness for change
- Barriers to progress
- Support needs
- Resource gaps
- Progress indicators
How it works
Schools complete the Change Lens collaboratively with partners. The findings are shared transparently, and support is brought in to address identified needs.
Data use, confidentiality and publication must be agreed with participating institutions and schools.
The Change Lens examines four pillars to identify what support is needed.
Each pillar represents a distinct area of school improvement.
- Leadership development
- Coaching and mentoring
- Team culture and CPD
- Implementation skills
Data use, confidentiality and publication must be agreed with participating institutions and schools.
How Hubs work
A Hub is the coordination point through which participating schools, existing education structures, universities, experts and partners work around the shared priority. Each founding school becomes a Hub for its county, supporting 9 other schools in its region. This spreads delivery across the country and builds local support networks in every participating county.
Coordination Point
Each founding school becomes a Hub for its county, supporting 9 other schools. Hubs may use existing clusters, networks or regional structures rather than creating new bureaucracy.
Collaborative Design
Each of the 10 founding schools is selected from a different major county across Kenya's regions, creating a national spread of Hubs. The final design will be validated through consultation with schools, the Ministry and stakeholders.
Targeted Support
Experts, universities and partners are brought in through the Hub to respond to what schools actually need.
A clear path from first conversation to shared impact.
Register Interest
Share your school's priorities and interest in hosting or participating.
Discovery Conversation
The OBC team explores your school's fit, capacity and potential role.
Hub Matching
Schools grouped by geography, priority and capacity into a local cohort.
Workshop Delivery
Expert-led sessions hosted by the Central Hub School.
Impact Capture
Outcomes, learning and case studies collected for the Kenyan evidence base.
Building a national network.
Ten founding schools will be selected from major counties across Kenya's regions, including Kakamega, Busia, Kisumu, Kisii, Bomet, Kericho, Uasin Gishu, Nakuru, Mombasa, Meru, Machakos, Nairobi, Kiambu and others. Each founding school becomes a Hub that supports 9 other schools in its county, creating a national network of 100 schools with local support hubs in every participating county.
Western, Nyanza, Rift Valley, Coast, Eastern, Central. Partnership development underway.
Status
- Exploring
- Active
- Scaling
Early conversations and scoping underway.
Programmes running with engaged schools.
Expanding across additional schools.
The right response to identified needs
Experts, universities, partners, funding, equipment and technology are brought in according to what the Change Lens identifies. We do not start with a fixed programme and try to fit it to schools.
Experts
Practical methods, tools, facilitation and specialist support
Universities
Research, evaluation, evidence and academic governance
Corporate Partners
Funding, infrastructure, technology and expertise
Implementation Partners
Logistics, capacity and regional support
EdTech Providers
Digital tools, platforms and learning resources
Foundations
Programme funding, employee volunteering and innovation support
The Change Lens determines what support is needed. Partners then contribute against evidenced gaps.
Implementing. Learning. Improving.
Evidence is not something added at the end of a programme.
Each One Big Change journey begins with a clear starting point, shared measures of progress and regular opportunities for practitioners, partners and researchers to learn from implementation.
One shared priority
A clearly defined challenge and common purpose.
Evidence from the beginning
Baselines, milestones and learning questions agreed before delivery.
Practitioner-led insight
Evidence gathered with the people doing the work, not simply extracted from them.
Open learning
Progress, challenges and adaptations shared honestly with participating partners.
Kenyan-led interpretation
Findings understood through local knowledge, experience and context.
School leaders on what changed.
The framework is only meaningful insofar as it changes practice. These are the voices of the leaders working inside it.
School leaders on what changed.
The framework is only meaningful insofar as it changes practice. These are the voices of the leaders working inside it.
“For the first time, the conversation about CBC moved from what the policy says to what we actually do on Monday morning.”
Everything you need to know about the framework
How is this different from existing CBC training?
This is not a training programme. It is an implementation framework that connects existing resources, research and expertise around a shared priority, with structured support and evidence.
Which counties are involved first?
The first implementation demonstration brings together 10 founding schools from major counties across Kenya, including Kakamega, Busia, Kisumu, Kisii, Bomet, Kericho, Uasin Gishu, Nakuru, Mombasa, Meru, Machakos, Nairobi, Kiambu and others. Each founding school becomes a Hub for its county, creating a national network of 100 schools. Engagement is open to all counties for future cycles.
How is the programme evaluated?
Evaluation is led by university partners using participatory research methods. Findings are published openly and used to strengthen the programme in real time.
Can our school take part?
Yes. Schools interested in participating in the founding cohort or future implementation cycles are invited to express interest through the Get Involved page.