On Friday November 20th we (KEY) hosted the first school library policy brainstorming session. We initiated this session, and with the support of the Ministry of Education, Kenya National Library Services, Kenya National Library Association and the Goethe Institute, 15 education stakeholders came together to explore and discuss a road map. Guided by the Kenya Law Reform Commission, which KEY engaged earlier this month, we deliberated on the contributions that each of us need to make to a draft school library policy document that the Kenya Law Reform commission, thereafter, can turn into a bill.
Currently, South Africa is the only country in Sub-Saharan Africa that has a national school library policy. Enacting this policy has positively impacted the standard of its school libraries and escalated the roll out of school libraries nationwide.
Participants in our extremely productive day-long meeting included representatives of the following organizations:
World Bank
Unesco
Kenya Law Reform Commission
Ministry of Education
Ministry of Sports, Culture & Arts
Kenya Library Association
Kenya National Library Service
Kenya Publishers Association
Ekitabu
Book Aid International
World Reader
Story Moja
Start a Library
KEY was represented by Niccola and Vida, our Senior Library Consultant.