Kenya

With excellent results in Kilifi and Tana River, there is growing interest in Jolly Futures in Kenya.

Project Start Date

2015

Implementing Partner

Universal Learning Solutions (UK) and Literacy Learning Solutions Kenya (LTD)

Government Partners

Department of Education Kilifi County Government, Department of Education Tana River County Government, Department of Education Taita Taveta County Government, Collaboration with Kenya Private Schools Association, Pwani University and Kenya Institute for Curriculum Development (KICD)

In 2015, the first Jolly Phonics pilot study was conducted in 6 government schools in the coastal Kilifi County, with astounding results. Further successful pilots at both pre-primary and primary level were then conducted in 2017 and 2018, in partnership with Pwani University. As a result, in 2019, Kilifi County was the first county in Kenya to adopt Jolly Phonics in all public Pre-Primary schools. This rollout was managed by our implementing partner, Universal Learning Solutions, and reached over a 680 public pre-primary schools.

In 2020, Tana River County followed, again with a rollout to over 380 schools. Both of these projects initially benefitted from the Jolly Futures donations stated here, but the local County Governments have taken ownership of the project, meaning that more activities are still being implemented to strengthen and sustain the projects. Government, and other donor funding have also ensured that a holistic project model has been implemented, including the monitoring and mentoring of teachers, phonics screening checks for pupils, additional materials, trainings for officials and more. As a result, Jolly Futures in Kenya is consistently improving English literacy levels. In 2021, a pilot study in Taita Taveta County was initiated.

In addition to this, a strong alliance with the Kenya Private Schools Association has been formed, where over 2700 private school teachers have also been trained to implement Jolly Phonics in hundreds of private schools in Kilifi County. The demand for Jolly Phonics has led to the development of a strong team of experienced Kenyan Jolly Phonics trainers. Their commitment to teaching Jolly Phonics was recognised during different pilot projects and they have since been trained to become professional trainers. Their experience led them to Cape Town in 2020 and Namibia in 2022 where they trained hundreds of South African and Namibian teachers.

Post pandemic the large scale pilot in Western Kenya (Kericho, Narok and Bomet counties) was resumed in partnership with the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya, Anglican Churches of Kenya and the Africa Gospel Church of Kenya. This pilot consisted of over 30 Jolly Phonics schools with over 800 pre primary pupils in the sample. Pupils using Jolly Phonics in both Pre Primary 1 and Pre Primary 2 performed significantly higher than those in control schools across all three pupil assessments.

Impressive results from pilot studies have informed plans for a phased scale up over Coastal and Western Kenya in 2023.

3Counties

2820Teachers

105720Pupils

Number of projects, teachers and pupils that have benefitted from Jolly Futures donations.

Jolly Phonics has been rolled out across Kilifi and Tana River Counties, and was piloted in Taita Taveta County. A large scale pilot was conducted in 2021-2022 in Kericho, Narok and Bomet counties.

Pilot phase

Rollout phase

Sustainability phase

Take a look at the project in action...

Project Reports and Documents

Pre Primary Pilot report 22 Kericho Narok and Bomet.pdf

Kilifi Jolly Phonics Case Study 2017- 2019.pdf

Project Contacts

Sian Summers Issa

Kenya Country Director, Universal Learning Solutions & Jolly Phonics Trainer

Projects: All nationwide

Sian@universallearningsolutions.org+254 789458443

Project Partners

Universal Learning Solutions, registered as Literacy Learning Solutions in Kenya, is a not-for-profit organisation that is managing the implementation of the Jolly Futures projects in several countries, including Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Cameroon. It’s vision is of a world where all children can read and write with confidence and enjoy their right to learn.