A strategy built around implementation
One Big Change Kenya aligns with national education priorities and turns them into coordinated, evidence-informed practice in schools. It does not replace the work already happening; it organises it.
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.
The gap is rarely policy. It is implementation.
An implementation partner, not a policy creator
One Big Change Kenya is developing an implementation partnership designed to support government, schools and education institutions in strengthening CBE in practice.
The Ministry sets the direction. One Big Change helps the whole system deliver it. One Big Change does not replace what exists. It organises what exists so everyone moves in the same direction.
Different roles. Shared responsibility. One Big Change.
From national policy to sustainable practice
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
The correct sequence
Listening comes before action. Evidence comes before scaling.
Understanding each school honestly
The Change Lens is a collaborative assessment completed in each school to understand leadership and professional capability, wellbeing, inclusion, teaching and academic quality, CBE and CBA confidence, pathway readiness, staffing, equipment, technology, family and community engagement, and practical barriers to implementation.
It is both an implementation tool and a research instrument. It is not a separate programme; it is how every school's starting point is understood.
The Change Lens looks at the whole school, not one isolated problem. Ten connected areas sit beneath four pillars, giving each school an honest starting picture.
“The gap is rarely policy. It is implementation.”
The conditions for implementation
These are not four separate programmes. They are the connected conditions the Change Lens examines to determine whether implementation succeeds.
Leadership and professional capability
The capacity of school leaders and teachers to lead and sustain change.
Wellbeing
The conditions that allow learners and staff to thrive.
Inclusion
Ensuring every learner, regardless of circumstance, can participate and progress.
Teaching, learning and academic quality
The quality and consistency of classroom practice and learner progress.
Support that responds to identified needs
Once the Change Lens shows what a school needs, the right knowledge and resources are brought together: experts, universities, partners, funding, equipment and technology respond to evidenced needs rather than to assumptions.
Traction Partners can support the whole programme, a particular Hub, a particular barrier across several Hubs, or both national coordination and local delivery.
The journey from foundation to national expansion
Foundation
UnderwayYear 1, Term 1
LocaeRise establishes One Big Change Kenya, confirms the first shared priority and convenes the founding institutional partners.
- Confirm the first shared priority
- Convene founding institutional partners
- Agree the implementation framework
Three-month inception and co-design
Planned3 months
A focused inception period to co-design the implementation response with founding schools, experts and partners.
- Co-design workshops with founding schools
- Agree roles and responsibilities
- Confirm evidence and learning approach
Founding Hub development
PlannedYear 1
Each founding school becomes the centre of a local implementation Hub, with leadership and resource partnerships in place.
- Confirm founding schools across regions
- Establish Hub leadership
- Connect resource partners to each Hub
Three termly workshops
PlannedThree school terms
A structured cycle of three termly workshops per Hub, building consistent practice and peer learning across the cohort.
- Term 1 workshop
- Term 2 workshop
- Term 3 workshop
Evidence, LocaeAwards and LocaeFest
PlannedEnd of Year 1
Gather and publish evidence from the first year, recognise contribution through LocaeAwards, and convene the cohort at LocaeFest.
- Publish founding year evidence
- LocaeAwards recognition
- LocaeFest convening
Year 2 sustainability and expansion
PlannedYear 2
Sustain founding Hubs, deepen evidence, and expand the national learning network to additional counties and schools.
- Sustain founding Hubs
- Expand to new counties
- Strengthen the national learning network
Change that lasts
At school level
Trained internal champions, embedded practice, internal trainers.
At Hub level
Functioning local leadership, peer learning, resource partnerships.
At national level
A repeatable process, stronger local expertise, clear visibility of where resources are needed.
For partners
Clear evidence of contribution and impact.
Learning before scaling
Evidence is published openly and used to strengthen the programme in real time. Only when implementation is proven does successful practice prepare for wider adoption.
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