Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology(JKUAT) has joined a major international capacity-building initiative aimed at strengthening teacher leadership and integrating sustainable development across education systems in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The University is participating in the Sub-Saharan Africa Teacher Leadership for Education for Sustainable Development (SSATL-ESD) Project, a multi-country Erasmus+ initiative funded by the European Union. The project seeks to empower educators and teachers to embed sustainability principles into curricula, teaching practices, and institutional policies.
The SSATL-ESD project brings together partner institutions from eight countries: Kenya, South- Africa, Namibia, Malawi, Zambia, Germany, Greece, and Cyprus. The project is coordinated by Leuphana University Lüneburg, Germany, and supported under the Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education programme (Project Number 101177464).
At JKUAT, the project is led by Dr. Margaret Gichuhi of the Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology(IEET), alongside a team including Dr. Lawrence Nderu, Dr. Charles Mburu, Dr. Mathew Gicheha, Ms. Cecilia Muriuki, and Mr. Peter Waithaka.
The initiative supports hybrid professional learning, curriculum change projects, ICT-enabled ESD leadership labs, and a Euro-African ESD Leadership Network. A key feature of the project is locally driven Change Projects, through which educators identify sustainability challenges within their own institutions and implement practical solutions in teaching, curriculum, assessment, and whole-institution transformation.
As part of its participation, JKUAT will nominate 30 members from across its departments, schools, and teaching units to undergo ESD training, together with ten other teachers from teacher training colleges in Kenya, forming a strategic cohort of forty participants.
A flagship component of JKUAT’s involvement is the proposed JKUAT Green Campus Change Project. This initiative will turn the university campus into a living laboratory for sustainability learning, focusing on campus greening, waste management, recycling, environmental care, and behavior change. The project aims to connect teaching and learning with visible institutional action, positioning the campus as a pedagogical space where students, staff, and stakeholders learn by doing.
The initiative will require coordination across multiple university units. Student leaders, clubs, and associations are expected to serve as key change agents.
“Through SSATL-ESD, JKUAT is positioning itself as a future-ready institution that views sustainability not merely as a global agenda, but as a practical responsibility embedded in teaching, research, operations, and community engagement,” said Dr. Margaret Gichuhi, JKUAT Project Lead.
By combining professional development, digital learning, change projects, and campus-based sustainability action, JKUAT aims to build a critical mass of ESD champions who can influence teaching practice, curriculum innovation, environmental stewardship, and community-oriented learning across Kenya and beyond.