WE BELIEVE THAT KNOWLEDGE TRANSFORMS DESTINIES

KEY IS AN AWARD-WINNING DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM YIELDING RAPID REWARDS

It executes easily adoptable and manageable models for school libraries nationwide, targeting primary and secondary schools at national, provincial, district and community levels in a wide range of settings: we have renovated existing spaces in high performing urban schools, built new structures in remote villages and even modified shipping containers in refugee camps.

In 2016, KEY collaborated with the Kenya Law Reform Commission, the Kenya Library Services, the Ministries of Education and Sports Culture and the Arts, the Goethe Institute and educational NGOs to draft Kenya’s first policy and guidelines for school libraries in 2018. These set the stage for the comprehensive Draft National Policy on Libraries (2022) and Draft Libraries of Kenya Bill that are now undergoing public participation.

In 2023, KEY launched and hosted Kenya’s first professional development workshop for school librarians.

THE VALUES WE LIVE BY

Our approach

  • BOOKS FIRST, TECHNOLOGY SECOND

    Our primary goal is to help students acquire meaningful levels of literacy that will form a critical building block in their future. This means giving every student access to a library filled with inspiring and educational books. If a school also has the capacity to support technology, we additionally take the necessary steps to provide computers and interactive whiteboards. We provide Koha library software, eKitabu and Sugarizer software. We also provide training in basic research and technology skills, as well as stress the importance of IT in teaching, learning and applications in day-to-day life.

  • DEVELOPING SUSTAINABLE PROJECTS

    We provide a system that helps students, teachers and the community become long-term stewards of their library. Our standard package includes: Training in the use of the library for students, librarians, teachers and communities, a rules handbook, a trackable book checkout system, a book labelling system, a governance constitution document, the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, and a wide range of student-centric and values-driven leadership posters.

  • EMPOWERING OUR READERS

    Our students govern and manage their library. They are educated about their constitution, their rights, and read from a wide variety of more than 2,000 specially selected books. These cover regional, national and international issues in current affairs, politics, history, science, culture, religion, business and economics. We strive to ensure that we provide essential Afrocentric books.

Our MISSION

KEY’s mission is to drive meaningful change in Kenya’s educational system by providing students with fully functioning school libraries in Kenya through an affordable development program that yields rapid rewards with results and advantages that are easy to observe and easy to introduce, adopt and manage.

  1. Access for all

    Our vision is that every school-aged child has access to the resources of a library because it is key to a child’s development and potential, regardless of the child’s background.

  2. Foster engaged students

    We promote the use of the library as a place to practice constitutional and democratic rights. We encourage its use as a forum for good governance, student activism, freedom of expression, self-discovery and personal development.

  3. Align with Kenyan and UN objectives

    We ensure that our measures are compatible with national interests and align with the general objectives of Kenya’s Primary and Secondary Education Syllabus, its 2010 Constitution and Vision 2030 development program. Our libraries also promote the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals related to quality education, reduced inequalities, and global partnerships.

RESEARCH

KEY’s library program is results oriented. We look to the best practices of successful education programs from around the world to hone our methods and use our resources as effectively as possible. Always an ongoing process, we also monitor relevant journals, news outlets and professional opinions for the latest developments and findings in our field. While this information does not necessarily shift our policies or program development, it does help in refining the KEY strategy and approach.