Education for Marginalized Children in Kenya (EMACK) is an initiative of the Ministry of Education (MOE) and the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The original EMACK project was initiated in 2006 to increase quality educational opportunities for pre-primary, primary, and lower secondary school children who had been historically marginalized by cultural practices and poverty in Coast Province (CP), North Eastern Province (NEP), and informal settlements of Nairobi. From 2006 to 2012, as a part of the EMACK project, AKF developed and implemented a package of interventions focused on learner engagement and achievement at the classroom level in order to improve learning outcomes and learner transitions from pre-primary to lower secondary school. By 2012, EMACK had reached 767 informal and formal schools in 23 districts across Nairobi, CP, and NEP, benefitting nearly 425,000 people, including 400,000 children (215,426 boys and 183,706 girls), 4,000 teachers, and 11,000 orphans and vulnerable children.

In 2012 EMACK refocused its interventions towards building improved readiness of children (before and as they enter primary school) and ensuring schools, especially the lower primary standards (standards 1 through 3) are ready to support children’s learning and development. This refocus, EMACK II, complements the USAID education strategy (April 2011 – 2015) and has been developed by AKF in collaboration with USAID. The overall goal of the re-aligned EMACK II (Oct 2012-Sept 2014) program is to “enhance equitable access and improve learning outcomes in Kiswahili, English and Mathematics for children in primary grades 1, 2 & 3. To achieve the re-aligned EMACK II goal, AKF identified the following four revised strategic objectives (SOs):

1. Improved teaching and learning in Kiswahili, English and mathematics in primary grades1, 2 and 3 in target areas of CP, NEP and the informal settlements of Nairobi directly benefiting over 269,000 children attending 800 schools (formal and informal).

2. Improved effectiveness, efficiency and accountability of school management, and improved parents’ and communities’ participation to support reading outcomes in primary grades1, 2 and 3 in CP, NEP and the informal settlements of Nairobi in 800 schools (formal and informal).

3. Strengthened MOE delivery systems at the cluster and district levels to enhance learning outcomes in Kiswahili, English and mathematics in primary grades1, 2 and 3 at the national level, in 8 counties [4 in CP, 1 in Nairobi, and 3 in NEP], and in 28 districts [14 in CP, 2 in Nairobi, and 12 in NEP].

4. Increased equitable access to education for 120,000 children in crisis and conflict environments in specific areas of CP, NEP, and the informal settlements of Nairobi.

AKF plans to achieve these through improving the quality of teaching and learning in the classroom, establishing a cadre of trained trainers, and education officials as well as increasing the engagement and participation of the parents and communities so they become more accountable, effective and efficient in providing sustained support to the lower primary (grades 1, 2 and 3) education.