A nationally representative first cohort
Ten founding schools selected to represent Kenya's different education contexts. County names are not published until selection is confirmed.
The founding cohort will include ten schools from strategically selected counties representing Kenya's varied urban, peri-urban, rural, coastal, arid, remote, high-performing and resource-constrained education contexts.
Ten contexts, deliberately chosen
The ten counties are chosen to represent different education and implementation contexts, not tribes or political regions. One county is selected from each of the following types.
Major urban county
Dense population, large schools, pressure on places, technology access and complex school systems.
Fast-growing peri-urban county
Rapid population growth, expanding settlements and schools under pressure from migration and demand.
Coastal county
Different economic, linguistic, attendance and community-engagement realities.
Rural agricultural county
Dispersed schools, farming communities, transport challenges and seasonal pressures on attendance.
Arid or semi-arid county
Distance, mobility, water, infrastructure, staffing and access challenges.
Remote or frontier county
Limited connectivity, teacher recruitment difficulties and long travel distances between schools.
High-performing education county
Strong schools and leadership that can contribute proven practice and act as a learning partner.
Lower-resourced county
A context where gaps in equipment, staffing, infrastructure or specialist support are more visible.
County with strong technical or industrial potential
Relevant to Senior School pathways, STEM, TVET, digital skills and links with employers.
County with strong institutional influence
Strong links to universities, teacher training institutions, county leadership or national education networks, helping learning spread beyond the first cohort.
What every selected county is assessed against
- Strength and commitment of school leadership
- Willingness to collaborate with other schools
- Ability to host or coordinate a Hub
- Diversity of school types
- Readiness to collect evidence
- Access to local partners
- Potential to influence neighbouring counties
- Presence of both strong practice and identifiable implementation gaps
- Safety and practical accessibility for the delivery team
A representative learning group
The ten counties should give us a credible picture of how Kenya's education policy works across very different school contexts. We are not choosing the "best" counties. We are choosing a representative learning group that can show:
Where One Big Change is working
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.