On 12 July 2019, at the Oloolua Primary School (Kajiado County), the Kenya Comprehensive School Health Program was officially closed. Along with the AICS office in Nairobi and World Friends, the closing ceremony was attended by representatives of the Kajiado County, students, teachers and members of the involved schools, and representatives of the Jukumu Letu Organization.
The project, co-funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, started in 2015 was implemented by World Friends. It fostered the application of recent Kenya policies on school health in five schools of Kajiado County. The activities were not only aimed at raising awareness on health, nutrition, safety and the environment, but also at building kitchens and toilets and at installing water tanks and pumps. In addition, several small vegetable gardens have been set up inside the schools to provide fresh and healthy vegetables to the students.
The occasion was a moment to take stock – all together – on the achieved results within the educational, agricultural and health fields. As pointed out by Mr. Paolo Damato – representing AICS Nairobi – “the strength of the project was not to come there to develop and use new models, but instead to support the application of an existing Kenyan policy through close collaboration with the involved Kajiado schools” .
Thanks to the synergies between the organizations involved and to a solid collaboration with the schools, it was possible to allow the County of Kajiado to both get closer to the objectives set by the Kenya Comprehensive School Health Policy, and provide better services and safer learning environments for teachers and pupils.
