Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) joined other stakeholders during the inception planning workshop / conference of the UNESCO International Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) and Pan African University (PAU) project, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 6th to 7th November, 2025.
The UNESCO-IICBA and Pan African University project, titled: “Empowering Female Teachers and School Leaders in Crisis Situations through Integrating Mobile-Based Learning under the Pan African Virtual and Electronic University (PAVEU) Initiative,” covers five (5) focus countries namely; Kenya, Algeria, Cameroon, Nigeria, and South Sudan, bringing together forty (40) universities from across the five focus countries with each country represented by eight institutions.
In February 2025, the UNESCO -IICBA and the Government of Japan signed a one-year project agreement aimed at supporting the professional development of teachers in five African countries.
Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, one of the eight (8) participating universities from Kenya, was represented by Dr. Joyce Nzulwa, a Senior Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, School of Business and Entrepreneurship, College of Human Resource Development (COHRED).
Other Kenyan institutions are: The Open University of Kenya, Masai Mara University, South Eastern University of Kenya, Garissa University, Pwani University, Kisii University and Turkana University College.
The Kenyan delegation to the UNESCO-IICBA and PAU project workshop was led by the Director, State Department for Higher Education (SDHE), Ministry of Education), Mr. Darius Mogaka Ogutu.
The IICBA and PAU project is funded by the Government of Japan in connection with the 9th Tokyo conference on African development (TICAD 9) which was held in August 2025 under the theme: “Co-create Innovative Solutions with Africa.”
The Addis workshop served as the official inception project planning meeting of the joint initiative. Its main objective was “to bring together key stakeholders from the five focus countries and review and plan the implementation of the project, ensuring alignment with national priorities and institutional contexts.”
According to UNESCO, the capacity building initiative “seeks to enhance professional development, build resilience, and ensure educational continuity for teachers and school leaders, particularly women in crisis-affected areas of Sub-Saharan Africa by utilizing mobile-optimized learning platforms and targeted training programmes.”
The project further seeks to integrate mobile-based learning solutions into the African Union’s PAVEU initiative, implemented in partnership with PAU and a Japanese EdTech partner.
The partnership is poised to benefit JKUAT in enhancing professional development of teachers and school leaders particularly women, aligning international, regional and national gender inclusion goals and integrating techie and mobile based learning solutions.
