What do we do?
Metis equips a movement of leaders to transform education. Through our 6-month Fellowship program, Metis finds leaders with ideas to reimagine teaching and learning. We connect these local innovators to the tools, resources, mentors, and community they need to make their ideas come to life. To date, we’ve supported 63 fellows, who create high-quality learning experiences impacting 1.3 million learners across Kenya. With Metis support, Fellows start and strengthen schools, programs, policies, and technology.
The Fellowship provides:
Community of Learning: kickoff retreat + monthly virtual meet-ups: workshops, guest speakers, site visits, readings, tools, and resources linked to practical innovation project, that equip Fellows with the mindsets and skills to:
- Reimagine Education, learning with and from other Fellows about education innovations around the world
- Design Innovations that improve education quality and learning outcomes--particularly considering the COVID-19 crisis
- Lead their teams to drive change and sustain long-term impact
Coaching: individualized support to strengthen skills and overcome growth areas (such as strategy, program design, goal setting and execution, impact measurement).
Curated Connections to sources of talent, capital, and opportunities for thought leadership.
Curriculum, which guides leaders through the METIS Way, a design-thinking approach to innovation in education.
Our Impact
- 63 Fellows equipped through our flagship Fellowship program.
- 1,300,000+ youth benefitted from transformational programs/schools started and led by Metis Fellows. Fellows are guided by Metis principles of student ownership, community participation, excellence, and collaboration to lead high-quality, transformational programs--from entrepreneurship programs to life skills curriculums to digital apps to schools. 70% of Fellows serve marginalized youth.
- 800+ community leaders and educationists gathered at Metis events to problem-solve and collaborate.
- Launched Keep Kenya Learning in collaboration with 60 other education organizations to support caregivers with resources and guidelines to support learning during school closure.
COVID-19 Response & Impact
The power of the collective is evident in times of crisis. Not only have Metis community members collaborated to strengthen their individual responses, but Metis Fellows have also swiftly to support learners, parents, and educators together. The Metis community co-created Home Learning Guides to support vulnerable families without e-learning, hosted webinars, distributed food, and shared online resources through a digital resource hub.
- 15,000 households supported with Home Learning Guides
- 30,000+ children access fun, engaging, and relevant learning materials.
- Children engage in self-guided learning--starting gardens, conducting science experiments, writing, and even preparing for upcoming national exams. Watch Prince, Patricia, and Piece.
- Parents feel empowered and supported during this stressful time. Watch the parents' responses here and here.
- 1,000+ parents and educators equipped for e-learning through Metis Educator + Parent Resource Hub
- 100+ Parents empowered with learning strategies through 2 webinars in collaboration with Mum’s Village.
Digitization & Expansion
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has challenged us in ways we never thought possible and pushed us to accelerate our digitization plans. As highlighted above, we have decided to pilot a hybrid in-person and virtual fellowship with our incoming fourth Cohort. Once we pilot the new model successfully over the next six months, we shall then embark on rolling out the new model of our fellowship enabling us to reach more catalytic educational leaders across Kenya and East Africa.
By digitizing our fellowship we will:
- Reach more local education leaders and equip them with the tools, curated connections, and a community to enable them to create innovations that will improve learning outcomes across the country. We plan to reach 200 local education leaders in the next 2 years.
- Be able to reach a larger number of local education leaders while observation the government and self-initiated guidelines on protection against the spread of COVID-19.
What our alumni say about their fellowship experience
"I want our youth to be proud to be Kenyan, proud of their history, and equipped to lead our continent forward. Through the Metis Fellowship, I honed my vision for a Pan-African primary school. I met other school leaders and curriculum experts in my Metis cohort, was exposed to research and other school models from around the world. Metis gave me the building blocks and coaching support to create a school for the next generation of African leaders. " - Dr. Utheri Kiragu-Kanayo, Founder of Children in Freedom School.
"Without the METIS way curriculum, I would not have survived Covid-19 and Makini's shift to e-learning. Metis taught me the skills to continuously iterate!"
- Immaculate Musambi, Principal Makini School.
