Shadrack Agaki

New Narrative on Sustainable Food Security required.

Globally, there is convergence of thought that food security is a critical element in furtherance of social, economic and political development. In view of this, global actors have and are employing different strategies and policies to achieve the SDG 2030 (1) End Poverty and (2) Zero Hunger. However, in general, there is a concern of the world failing to achieve critical milestones towards achieving these Sustainable Development Goals.

Recent events globally including devastating floods in Pakistan, drought in the Horn of Africa, Russia invasion of Ukraine, Covid-19 and attendant global travel restriction have exposed the fragile global food system. Most importantly the events have provoked interest of global actors on the need to transform the food system to ensure sustainability.

In this context, it is important to look at how Kenya can resolve the challenge of food insecurity and other related issues. According to Constitution of Kenya (CoK) 2010 article 43 (c), being free from hunger and having access to adequate food of acceptable quality is both an economic and social right. The government is therefore expected and obligated to ensure she undertakes necessary steps for people to realize this constitutional objective.

Indeed, there has been previous attempts by the government of Kenya to ensure the country is food secure. Such activities have been undertaken by different government Ministries, Agencies and Institutions. However, the reports of recurring hunger especially in the informal settlements within urban centers and Arid and Semi-Arid Areas regions is a sign of little success.

Failure of previous attempts to ensure food security can be attributed to two issues. First minimal resources allocated to development of the agriculture sector. As indicated in the fourth schedule of CoK 2010, most of the agriculture functions have been devolved to the County Government. However, analysis shows that the resources allocated for development of the agriculture sector among the counties is low. Further, the country has not managed to increase budgetary allocation to agriculture to the agreed level 10% of national budget as espoused in the Maputo declaration Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP).

Piecemeal implementation of agri-food policies and strategies has also dealt a blow to agriculture development and achievement of food security. It is an open secret that government Ministries, Institution and Departments work in silos. This forms critical hindrance to attainment of food security.

Second issue that has impacted food security is defective Reference narrative on agri-food development. Meryvin King and John Kay in their book Radical Uncertainty define a narrative as a story that explains what is happening. A reference narrative therefore is that story that people relies on while making a decision.

It is unfortunate that a defective narrative has permeated through the agri-food sector. While agriculture is the foundation of food security and economic development, negative outlook has impacted productivity. It has discouraged young people from taking part in Agriculture development.

It is evident that this defective reference narrative concerning agriculture has also contributed to ineffective policies. This Defective narrative could be traced back to the 1980s and 1990s when the Structural Adjustment Programs took hold in the Africa Continent. During this era, the state of agriculture deteriorated making most African countries dependent on imported food.

Despite the previous defective narrative, Kenya has an opportunity to reconstruct a new narrative concerning agriculture and food security. Agriculture must be viewed through multiple lenses. As President of Kenya H.E Dr. William Ruto constitute his Government, his first responsibility must be to try and establish clear structures that will deal with agriculture transformation and food insecurity.

Part of President Ruto daunting task is to ensure holistic approach to agriculture development in order to afford citizens their right to adequate food of acceptable quality.

Accordingly, as Kenya undertakes to transform its agriculture sector, restoration of Environment must also be given key consideration. This must be understood in relation to the spirit of article (42) of Constitution of Kenya 2010 which emphasize that every person has a right to a clean and healthy environment protected for the benefit of the present and future generations.

Given that Agriculture is one of the greatest contributor to pollution and global warming, necessary steps must be put in place to prevent destruction of biodiversity. For this to happen, the new Narrative must avoid confrontational stance. This will in turn allow every actor to bring in ideas that could catapult Kenya to new level of food security and sustainability.

In the spirit of collaboration and partnership among different actors and sectors, President Ruto’s administration must call for a national conference to chat a united front in regards to food security. Through the conference, the country can develop a relevant national narrative that will inform formulation and implementation of holistic Agri-food policies.

President Mwai Kibaki Policies Revitalized Kenya Food Security

Food security of a country is achieved by formulation and implementation of different strategies and policies. The structural Adjustment policies of the 1980s and 1990s not only destroyed the agriculture sector in Kenya and Africa but also aggravated food insecurity. Hence, improving Kenyan agriculture and food security required significant political leadership which the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC) was believed to have had. Therefore, urgent task of NARC government was to restore hope and economic fortunes.

After the 2002 general election, Kibaki Government embarked on various projects and initiatives that proved consequential in transformation of the Kenyan economy. The initial sign of President Kibaki good will and commitment to social and economic transformation was demonstrated when he entrusted clear minded leaders and professionals to head critical Ministries, departments and institutions.

For instance, a team led by Prof. Anyang’ Nyongo who headed the Ministry of Planning and National Development is credited to have initiated various strategies and policies that put Kenya into a recovery trajectory. In his article “The Mwai Kibaki I knew”, in Sunday Nation of 24^th April, Anyang Nyongo confirms the view that President Kibaki was keen to let independent minded professionals formulate and implement effective policies and strategies.

In deed the positive impact of National Economic and Social Council, the Economic Recovery Strategy and the Vision 2030 initiated during the Kibaki regime cannot be over- emphasized.

The NARC government investment in development of infrastructure opened new business opportunities. It is under Kibaki that the communication infrastructure were enhanced and digital platforms such as MPesa developed. The Mpesa platform has enabled easy access to money, created employment for a sizable number of people hence improving livelihood of many Kenyans. This has enabled many to afford food.

Improved and expanded road networks further enhanced access to market, leading to improvement in access, stability and utilization of food.

Consequently, the NARC free primary education policy has had a critical impact on food and nutritional security. Even though the Nexus between education and food and nutritional security is not outright, studies have shown that educated individuals are able to make better investment in agriculture and food production as well as nutritional choices.

In my opinion, President Kibaki being an accomplished economist understood the linkage between food security and education. To me this could be the reason he will keenly monitor the enrollment figures in primary education and food production as corroborated by the former head of public service and Secretary to the Cabinet Ambassador Francis Muthaura in an Interview with Daily Nation published on Sunday Nation of 24th April 2022.

The number of children who have benefited from free primary education, including myself is enormous. Kenya now has a critical mass of young people who are knowledgeable and well informed. This phenomenon has positive impact in the future state of food and nutritional security because according to various studies educated individuals would be in a position to make conscious decision on the right kind and amount of food to produce and eat.

To keep up with President Mwai Kibaki Legacy, leaders must embrace his vision of a Kenya that is politically and economically stable, where people are able to feed themselves and have access to affordable quality education and healthy.

Policy Disconnect Major Cause of Food Insecurity

The recurring food crisis that now adversely affected counties of Marsabit, Samburu, Turkana, Wajir, Baringo, Isiolo and Mandera is a clear indication of food policy failure.

In 2011, the ugly pictures of dying children and animals in Turkana pricked the conscious of many Kenyans who through Kenya For Kenya initiative by Red-Cross Kenya went on to raise spectacular amount of resources to help their fellow citizens. During this time, about 2.4 million Kenyans were facing hunger and starvation. Paradoxically, in the current crisis, the number of Kenyans suffering is upward of 3.5 million.

Given that agriculture sector is a devolved function, it could be expected that better management and prioritization will take place in the counties to ensure effective and improved food production. For instance, the vision of agriculture ministry in Samburu County is to be a food secure and prosperous. That of Wajir Ministry of agriculture is to be an innovative commercially oriented and modern agriculture focused on rural development sector.

Taking the vision of the two County ministry of agriculture as a representative, it is clear all Asal regions/ counties want to achieve food security, but why then are they among those adversely impacted by the current crisis?

This phenomenon can be explained through the lens of failure in policy coordination. However many will blame climate change and drought. How does the Transport and infrastructure policies marry with those of the Agriculture ministry, do they work in harmony?

There will be no justifiable reason why counties in arid and semi-arid areas could not come together and pool resources for joint agriculture investments. For instance, water storage and conservation projects must have been given priority given that most residents in these areas depend on livestock. How can water from Turkwel river benefit people of Neighbouring counties? This will require close working relationship between the counties to chat a viable investment on developing required facilities to facilitate the project implementation.

Therefore, Irrigation must have been the gold-mine in the ASAL region. Harvesting enough water during the rainy season would have been the most probable action. However, it could be remembered that most of these counties’ have also been equally affected by floods.

Israel is a desert but one of the largest exporter of horticulture. Food security is achievable. However, as Shimon Peres observed, agriculture is 95% science and five percent hard work.

The science of agriculture involve better planning and coordination mechanism. The siloed nature of existing policies, institution and departments is the greatest stumbling block to realization of food security. This must be eliminated.

Developing better and climate smart policies would add impetus to agriculture development and improved food production. Given that 70% of water is utilized in Agriculture, recycling of water is among the best practices.

Diversification of agricultural activities is imperative if food security is to be achieved. In the ASAL region, growing vegetables and horticulture is possible. However this requires investment in building water reservoir facilities to store water for irrigation.

But it must be noted that food security is also determined by interplay of different factors and sectors. For example, research is important in development of better adapting crop varieties and breeds. With this knowledge it is imperative that enough financial resources are allocated for research.

Transport is also another critical plank in ensuring food security. On this the National government must be given credit for building extensive road networks that could accelerate access to markets. Therefore proper planning and policy coordination will be the key to attaining food security.

FAO Global Data and Analysis on Food Insecurity Critical For Stable Food System.

In FAO special session on Ukraine today 8/04/2022, the issue of global food insecurity caused by Russia-Ukraine conflict was at the center of global debate. Ambassador Cindy McCain of USA called on FAO and her partners to monitor the food crisis caused by the conflict in Ukraine and provide timely data and analysis on the increasing levels of food insecurity.

I believe profiding timely data and analysis will ensure that policy makers all over the world are able to institute innovative and effective policy intervention to cushion citizens from adverse impact of food shortages.

Further, the call on FAO and other global stakeholders to restore the agricultural sector of Ukraine is essential. The place and role of Ukraine in global food stability is critical. Ukraine is among the global leader in wheat production and export, disruption of its production seriously undermine stability of global food system.

Already in Kenya, the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict has caused shocks that has affected fertilizer prices. The prices had gone up to around 70 dollars in some areas . While presenting the National Budget for Financial Year 2022/2023 to Parliament of Kenya in the national Assembly, the Cabinet Secretary acknowledged the adverse impact of the conflict, necessitating allocation of over 2 billion kenya shillings for Fertilizer subsidy program.

However, it is worth noting that the cascading impact of Ukraine-Russia conflict compounds the disastrous effects of Covid-19. Unfortunately, the long term impact of the conflict on food security would be felt later in subsequent harvest.

Finally, it must be understood that food security is the basic foundation of international peace and security. Global food insecurity therefore might plunge the world we order into chaos. it is in the best interest of global security that all people from all over the world must join hands to call for Russia soldiers to withdraw from Ukraine . Diplomacy must always be given priority over invasion.

CS Treasury Ambassador Ukur Yatani at Parliament of Kenya 7/4/2022

https://lnkd.in/d5j_nURM

Clustering Strategy: Critical Element in ensuring Sustainable Global Food Production.

The Paris Accord recognizes the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger and it is cognizant of particular vulnerabilities of food production systems to the adverse impact of climate change. The agreement has over 200 parties as signatories, all with different abilities, but all aware that each of their actions contributes to making or breaking the process of transforming global food systems. The existence of such global effort bringing together stakeholders to work collaboratively to ensure sustainable development goals are attained attest to the necessity of clustering strategy.

Clustering, a processing of putting together issues and things of similar type, must be embraced in order to solve global intricate challenges. In the world we live today, it is evident that local, national, regional and global challenges are intertwined hence the need for comprehensive strategies to ensure collective actions by various stakeholders from the remotest part of the world count in the process of restoration.

The United Nation, an organization formed to ensure global peace and security epitomizes clusterization strategy. The body is on the frontline urging collective actions from all levels by all stakeholders in order to achieve the 17 sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This validates the need for massive aggregation of issues, policies and regions, working on local national and global challenges that could inhibit sustainable production of food.

For Kenya to achieve sustainable food production while transforming the food systems, clustering must be considered in different areas, issues and policies.

One, clustering of Counties must be given priority. The 47 counties in Kenya are unique in their own ways but some share similar ecological zones. This could allow amalgamating counties in terms of production of particular products. For instance, Counties in the rift valley are known to produce maize grain, a reason the region is referred to as Kenya’s food basket; it will be critical therefore for them to be grouped and be given necessary assistance to improve and enhance productivity.

Two, there is a need to cluster products and comparative advantage. Even though maize is an important food staple in Kenya, there is a need for diversity, if food security is to be experienced. Cassava and Potatoes and many others could be the alternative to reduce dependence on maize crop. Grouping counties with suitable ecological conditions to grow different crops will promote specialization and diversity which in the end will enhance food availability and accessibility.

Three, clustering of research institutions is important in order to generate specific findings and recommendations on different issues to the right audience. One monumental failure in Kenya has been disharmony between scientific research and policy formulation and implementation. It will be important to ensure that research organizations and think tanks are aligned to different national issues and challenges. For example, with the impact of climate change, better varieties of crops that can withstand different environmental stress becomes critical; but this requires constant research to develop new varieties as environmental conditions change.

Four, clustering government departments and institutions is another critical exercise that Kenya must urgently undertake to ensure better cooperation and collaboration. It is a fact that the working of government departments and institutions has for long been structured in silos. This means that what happens in one ministry/ institution is not understood by another. This phenomenon creates serious bottlenecks in sharing of data and other important information, hence hampering progress in economic development.

Taking devolution as a nuclear of clustering strategy, it is now time to start looking into how to transform policies to facilitate sustainable clusterization and specialization to transform food systems. The fourth schedule of the 2010 Constitution of Kenya as the guiding post, a comprehensive working formula must be set out to ensure all actions and policies are synchronized to ensure an effective working relationship between the two levels of government.

The national Government must ensure development of key infrastructure like roads, water and electricity. Further, the National government must embrace research as a key driver of economic transformation hence must allocate substantial national budget to fund research institutions and foundations. However, counties must also play a role by identifying critical issues and products that need to be addressed to ensure harmony with the national government agenda.

Symbiotic relationships between the National and County government must be supported by active public participation of citizens. Development projects in various regions must be informed by local needs. This means that researchers must also be able to translate and articulate their scientific findings and recommendations in a manner that could inform decisions of both citizens and governments on the best path to development.

Clustering Strategy: Critical Element in ensure Sustainable Global Food Production.

For Kenya to achieve sustainable food production while transforming the food systems, clustering must be considered in different areas, issues and policies.

Independent Food Systems Dialogues to Inform Global Transformation.

By 2030 it was forecasted the world should have achieved 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as planned but detours such as Covid19, climate change, exponential population growth and many others have brought into question viability of linear development models as means of attaining these goals. The United Nations, out of abundance of caution, after consultation with a number of stakeholders determined that the only hope of ensuring SDGs are realized lies in Transformation of Global Food Systems.

Understandably, Food Systems touches every facet of life because it involves people and activities in production, processing, transporting and consumption of food from local to the global level. This knowledge compelled the Office of UN Secretary General to call for organization of Food Systems Dialogues in all levels that will culminate at the People’s Summit that will be held in September 2021 at the UN General Assembly in New York. The local dialogues are meant to elucidate essential issues informing changes in the local and national level. While the information obtained at the lower level of Food Systems Dialogue could act as a springboard for global conversation necessary to bring about global food systems transformation.

It is unfortunate though that the cumulative global danger of unhealthy food systems is not visible nor well understood in different policy arena. This has in turn brought some level of laxity among policy makers in establishment of proper policies that could transform local food systems. Time to rectify the situation is running out as most planetary boundaries are almost being violated hence danger of entering the red zone where unfathomable global consequences will be manifested in various local environments.

To demystify the danger that abound if local leaders won’t act now to transform food systems; one needs to think of unavailability of clean and safe drinking water occasioned by pollution of water bodies as an example. Since water is life, and that 70% of water is used in Agriculture; continuous unsustainable use of water could bring tension as scramble to access clean and safe drinking water ensue. Further, unsustainable agricultural practices such as overuse of fertilizers and other poisonous chemicals together with deforestation will lead to loss of biodiversity. This will destabilize the entire global system.

The interdependent relationship between food systems and other global systems cannot be overemphasized. According to the UN, Health food Systems affects the health of human beings, environment, economies and culture.

To get local, national and global leaders to act accordingly to avert the impending crisis, there is need for intensive debate and conversation on the failure of the economy, loss of jobs, that will be occasioned by unsustainable food systems. This is where local Food System Dialogue could play a major role. Raising the conversation to a national platform to compel policy makers to initiate appropriate policies.

For instance, after the devastating impact of the corona virus pandemic, part of the conversation in Kenya should be how to restore and transform food systems to enable growth of the economy and improvement of livelihood devastated by the pandemic. However, it is clear voices on food system transformation has been subdued by larger political questions on leadership and governance.

Make no mistake, leadership and governance are critical planks of economic development, but this must be done simultaneously with other important issues like food systems transformation. Inaction today means lost opportunity to restore the situation when the normal boundaries are breached.

To build back better after the astounding global pandemic, young people must take the opportunity to engage in shaping local and global conversation on development. This can be done through establishment of independent dialogues on key issues all over the world. All issues no matter the nature, size or location contribute to the development of the global system.

To get onto the policy making table, young people must plan and organize. Using available tools such as digital technology, young people must not shy away from making their views known. However, it must be acknowledged that change sought is like that journey of a thousand miles starting with a single steep now. Therefore, there is a need for patience, collaboration, and commitment.

But the government and other global actors must be deliberate in involving youths in designing and implementing various development plans. As a repository of the future, young people must be taught how to tie the knots of policy making. This will ensure countries and communities have a smooth transition for posterity.

Lessons from Suspension of Trump Social Media Accounts on Global Digital Platform Governance

The mob of protesters breaching United States capital security was a spectacle unfathomable worldwide; but the subsequent suspension of President Donald Trump social media accounts by the majority of digital tech companies raises critical questions. The fact that President Trump can no longer share his views on these digital platforms must prompt Africa policy makers to reconsider the logic of overreliance on foreign digital companies.

In the recent past, the narrative of digital technology as a panacea to Africa social challenges has gained traction. Encouragement for many to join online communities has been the rallying call for many African leaders. However, out of abundance of caution, Dal Yong Jin in a book Digital Platform, Imperialism and Political Culture warned that over dependence on foreign digital tech companies could spell doom for development of some economies.

Following the events in the past week in the United States, it is incumbent upon African policy makers to evaluate a number of issues.

First, Policy makers must urgently take national stock of the country reliant on foreign digital companies’ platforms. This is important because it will enable countries to take appropriate steps to rectify the situation. Given that digital technological companies can take unilateral actions without any remedy to clients, immense danger abound for whoever over relies on foreign digital platforms in offering critical services.

Secondly, Africa countries must strive to avert premature deindustrialization. it is worth noting that the digital economy euphoria has obscured conventional development processes. After the Trump social media suspension debacle, and given that most service industries are dependent on digital platforms; which are dominated by few global digital giants, a lot must be assessed. It is now imperative that without proper laws and regulations, private digital platforms should not be foundational infrastructure over which national development of the digital economy is underpinned. This calls for enhanced development of physical infrastructure to support countries conventional growth and development.

Premature deindustrialization, a phenomenon where agriculture and manufacturing sector contribution to the GDP falls while the service sector contribution increases; could harm the prospects of economic growth and development. This is corroborated by the fact that the service industry, which is predominantly digital, offers few formal employment opportunities than manufacturing and agriculture.

To solve the situation, policy makers must now strengthen policies that support the primary sector which has the potential of transforming economic fortunes by creating more employment opportunities. With pressure from exponential population growth, agriculture and manufacturing sectors must be given priority.

Thirdly, for the danger that arises from digital platforms to be averted, policies that encourage building of home-grown digital platforms is essential. Research indicates that developing countries may not rival developed countries in development of digital infrastructure, but they can invest in intermediate skills and capabilities such as software development which is an important building block in the digital platform economy. To do this governments must incentivize and support acquirement of digital skills and capabilities.

Digital infrastructure investment is a huge undertaking that the government alone could not sufficiently cover. This therefore calls for collaborative effort, hence the need for policies that support public private partnership in establishment a strong foundation of a digital economy.

Fourthly, beyond national effort to curb the negative impact of digital platforms, it is time for global policy makers to keenly look into a process of instituting appropriate laws and regulations to govern transnational digital technological companies.

In view of the actions by digital companies suspending President Trump’s Social Media accounts, Kenya as a member of the United Nation Security Council may consider prioritizing setting up of a framework of global digital platform governance. This is critical since the majority of developing countries are reliant on these same global digital platforms in offering services to their citizens. Any arbitrary actions could jeopardize several countries’ service delivery.

To revitalize digital platform transnational governance, AfCFTA must urgently institute frameworks that could guide the establishment and implementation of digital platform economy. This includes supporting the effort of instituting global Digital Platform governance Framework to protect vulnerable economies from any unforeseen abuse of digital platforms by giant global digital technology companies.

Let the incidents in the United States open eyes and ears of policy makers to compel them formulate proper and relevant rules, laws and regulation to ensure smooth utilization of digital platforms in advancing global peace and development.

In Honor of H.E John Nyagarama: Let His Policies Be Enhanced

In the books of Kenya’s history, 18^th of December will forever be remembered as yet another time devolution suffered unfathomable loss; Nyamira County lost her first Governor as well as the institutional memory that he had accumulated. The demise of H.E John Nyagarama is not only devastating to his family but also to the residents of the County.

Much has been said about the towering figure, the pioneer political leader of Nyamira County. But his stance on agriculture development stands out. Large part of his life was dedicated towards ensuring agriculture became a key contributor to the economic development of Nyamira county. To honor him, his successors must never abandon his policies but enhance them.

First, despite the shrinking size of land in Nyamira, the governor sought to lead by example, operating small-scale farming projects in his various farms within the county. His livestock insemination policy that reduced the cost to around sh.500 was meant to encourage sustainable and profitable agricultural intensification. He took global call to promote smallholder farming, which is said to hold the key to food security in Africa seriously.

During this Covid19 period, the amount of food sent from Nyamira to those of us staying in the city amazed many. Were it not for rural folks’ support, life under lockdown for those living in the city would have been unbearable! This phenomenon revealed the intricate link between town and rural life. Being an Elder, a father, I know the governor was always concerned with the food security situation in his County. No wonder he chose to join the Agriculture Committee in the council of Governors to further his ideas nationally.

Secondly, the Governor and his administration took drastic and unpopular decisions to initiate conservation of water catchment areas by cutting down eucalyptus trees planted on riparian zones. This decision was informed by research that indicated that County residents had insufficient water; the quantity placed at 500 cubic meters instead of 1000 cubic meter. Given that IPCC 2019 report puts water used in agriculture activities at 70%, and the county being predominantly agricultural; inaccessibility to safe drinking water and food insecurity will be prevalent.

This possibility of insufficient water and deteriorating agricultural productivity compelled the County Government to initiate a County integrated strategic plan 2018-2022. This plan sought to restore Nyamira natural resources. True to global call to achieve Agenda 2030 on Sustainable Development Goals, Water and Soil conservation were given preeminence in that County Plan. Towards this goal, the County Government sought to increase strategic tree coverage from 35% to 45%. Indeed, this proves that the Governor was intentional in averting the double calamity of water shortage and food insecurity.

On the other hand, establishing and running a successful school enterprise before he became the County chief depicts the late Governor as a man who valued education. Beyond his personal effort, his administration was involved in supporting needy students from the county through the County bursary fund. No doubt, the governor understood the importance of building human capacity through better and quality education. According to the county Integrated Strategic plan 2018-2022, one of the main objectives was to ensure the county attain optimal staff levels.

As the family, Leaders prepare for his burial, the greatest honor to H.E John Nyagarama will be for his successors to enhance and implement the policies that he held dear. His vision of making small-scale agriculture the backbone of Nyamira economic development must be embraced. With population growth putting pressure on available land, the County government must develop better land policies to encourage sustainable smallholder agriculture.

Among those policies must be curbing further sub-division of land. With changing times and increasing population, new settlement plans must be developed. All leaders in Nyamira must therefore set out to engage in civic education programs discouraging residents from over subdividing agricultural land. All these, with a view of maintaining available land to support intensive and sustainable smallholder farming which will ensure that the County remains food secure.

Maybe establishing an agriculture research foundation in late Governor’s name will be the best way to celebrate his effort to transform the agriculture sector. Agricultural institute in Nyamira County in his name could serve the county better.

Most importantly, residents must heed to the call for conservation of water and soil in his memory. Ensuring that sustainable agriculture systems are adopted will serve to enhance the late governor’s legacy.

Fair thee, well Governor John Nyagarama.

Reinvention of Education System Critical in Addressing 21st Century Challenges.

COVID-19 has necessitated drastic changes in the education system with most programmes including graduation being held virtually; this has a bearing on the development of Human capital necessary in addressing global challenges in 21^st century. On his 2020 Jamhuri day speech, the President acknowledged that development of human capital is essential to address national challenges. Paradoxically, the Ministry of Education seems to have consented to the demand from Universities student fees. This coupled with the reduction of the amount of Higher Education Loans Board offered to the needy students, will exacerbate education inequality.

It is unfortunate that due to the coronavirus pandemic, substantial school time has been lost with many learning institutions losing huge amounts of capital and income. Yet, this must be a reminder to build a better and resilient education system and structures that encourage continuous learning even during adversity. Among the critical factors is investing in Information Communication Technology infrastructure and building digital skills among citizens.

The government must incentivize higher education institutions to build their capacity and skills to develop essential ICT inputs such as software infrastructure to aid the establishment of a strong digital education foundation. This could be achieved through establishing different specialized clusters among Kenyan universities akin to the consortium of universities that was set up to oversee the development of the gadgets for primary schools laptop project.

To ensure universal access to digital infrastructure nationally, the Ministry of education must require that part of government capitation be used in establishment and development of digital infrastructure in government schools. The National Government must impress upon Members of Parliament to allocate part of their National Government Constituency Development Fund to establish digital centers in polytechnics within their jurisdiction. In addition, the government through the Ministry of ICT, County Governments and other stakeholders, should invest in building digital parks in every Wards.

However, it must be known, digital skills require a certain degree of knowledge if they are to be used properly. For instance, it will be impossible for anyone without reading skills to master how to utilize digital technologies. With the Competence Based Curriculum, however, students will be required to hone their digital skills while in school. But it is also the prerogative of parents and guardians to ensure children under their care take up basic education as well as digital skills development.

Cosequently, on education system tackling national challenges, President’s 2020 Jamhuri speech sighted food security as the foundation for economic growth. However, the reality is that agriculture productivity, continues dwindling due to disarticulation between policy and research. The sector never attracts young people which therefore denies the country important human resources to increase productivity, this portending future tragedy as population increase and urbanization expands.

Given that agriculture sector has become knowledge intensive, the role of agricultural research institutions becomes mandatory. There should be concerted effort to enhance partnership between government institution and universities with more funding availed to undertake intensive scientific research to inform better policies. The government, must require that all its programmes and projects be informed by rigorous scientific research and that this role must be undertaken by research institutions as well as universities with commensurate funding set aside from the national budget. Consequently, this will add impetus to developmental research.

The universities on their part must rethink their education models. It is instructive to note that most of the learning will shift from classroom to virtual as it has been during Covid19 period. This will then require that the studies be structured in a way that enhance seeking solution to national challenges. And that every academic assignment be based on practical community needs.

Personal initiative must be the fountain of learning endeavor post Covid19. It should be known that without supervision, students might abscond classes. Therefore, there is need for increasing motivation among students.

The effort to bolster student engagement must include community rewarding hard and honest work. For students to feel part of the university programmes, they should be engaged in designing them and that this education program have a real impact on society. As a responsibility, students must be required to undertake community service through volunteerism.

Resource mismanagement within learning institutions must be stopped if education transformation has to be realized. It is no secret, big portion of national resources generated are lost through corruption. Any resources diverted from any institution contributes to failure of the education system. This in the end deny learners the gift of better education hence putting them at a disadvantage compared to those in developed nations.