Building Alumni Networks for Kenyan Public Schools: Why it Matters
By Pauline Wanja, CEO, Future First Kenya This guest blog by Pauline wraps up the week-long series on alumni engagement in Kenya in times of COVID. Reflecting on her journey with FFK, Pauline charts out the future of the organisation and the Association of Alumni Communities as a vehicle to drive change in the country’s education system. When I joined Future First Kenya, my job description seemed straight forward: to pilot an alumni model in Kenyan schools, which was inspired by the success of a similar alumni engagement model in the UK. It was supported by a national survey …
‘Future First Global’ and ‘I Choose Life – Africa’ Launch New Partnership
80,000 young people in Kenya to access role models and support for school-to-work transition Nairobi, Kenya 18 March 2015 – Future First Global and ‘I Choose Life – Africa’ (ICL) launched an exciting new partnership today which will provide access to role models and support in the transition from school into jobs, for some 80,000 young Kenyans over the next two years. The two-year partnership, launched in Nairobi, will see the expansion of the Future First programme into at least 80 government secondary schools across eight counties – Nairobi, Meru, Laikipia Machakos, Taita Taveta, Uasin Gishu, Turkana and Mombasa – reaching some of the most …
Global Citizen: How former students are helping Kenyan students believe in a better future
Emily Laurie, Managing Director of Future First Global, guest blogs for Global Citizen, an online campaign calling for an end of extreme poverty by 2030. [gdlr_space height=”30px”] [gdlr_quote align=”center” ]Men, women, boys and girls, are busy sifting through piles of rubbish to try and find some plastic, food, paper, old clothing; anything that they can sell for a few Kenyan shillings. This is the daily reality for most people who live in and around Dandora, Nairobi, one of the largest rubbish sites in Africa. And this week the competition for finding something to sell increases, as school holidays start and …
Why I connect young Kenyans with role models
Pauline Wanja explains why she has made a career out of connecting young Kenyans with relatable role models. Pauline is Programme and Advocacy Manager for Future First Kenya. How did you get involved in Future First? I graduated from university with a degree in law and accounting, but I decided that I wanted to work in youth engagement. In 2012 I was running an initiative called ‘Living in a Shanty Town’. It was a platform I had set up to help kids from my community from disadvantaged backgrounds. We were trying to increase social mobility in the area by creating …

