22 | NEWSFOCUS October 23, 2018 www.mygov.go.ke No Man’s Land, where dreams are T BY CYRILLA BARASA KNA-NAIROBI hey came in bent over with loaded sacks on their backs. Some staggered as though the steps they were making could be their last but still managed another step. With bottles of glue in their hands they sniffed in deeply with every step they made. One could confuse the sniffing with a sip of water to quench a dry throat in the scorching sun. Their destination was no man’s land at Busia border point located between Kenya and Uganda. This is where Rudi Foundation, a youth-run foundation saw it fit to restore the confidence of street children and give them a fresh breath to life. This day was a special day. It was a “birthday” specially made for the street children. It was the second Sunday of the month when they gathered under the shade of a mango tree for a sumptuous lunch provided by the Rudi MINISTRY OF EDUCATION THE KENYA NATIONAL EXAMINATIONS COUNCIL SECONDARY EDUCATION QUALITY IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (SEQIP) REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST Credit No Title Contract No : 6138-KE : CONSULTANCY FOR CAPACITY BUILDING ON COMPETENCY BASED ASSESSMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF ASSESSMENT TOOLS 1 : MOE/KNEC/SEQIP/RFP01/2018-2019 The Government of Kenya has received financing from the World Bank towards the cost of the Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQIP) and Kenya National Examinations Council as one of the implementing agencies, intends to apply part of the proceeds for consulting services. The consulting services (“the Services”) include provision of technical skills on development and roll out of a Competency Based Assessment and Development of assessment tools and development of an Item writing portal and Item Banking system. The assignment will commence immediately after signing of contract and as per the implementation schedule indicated in the detailed Terms of Reference. The detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) for the assignment can be found at the following website: www.knec.ac.ke KNEC invites eligible consulting firms (“consultants”) to indicate their interest in providing the services. Interested consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualification and relevant experience to perform the services (brochures, description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills among staff, etc.) Key Experts will not be evaluated at the shortlisting stage. The short listing criteria are: i. Must be registered as a legal entity. ii. Possess valid Tax Compliance certificate. iii. Audited financial statements for the last three years. iv. Information about firm’s capacity and number of years in offering related similar capacity building and support. v. Technical and managerial organization of the firm. vi. General qualification and experience of the firm and number of key staff. vii. Specific Experience in relation to similar assignments conducted in the past under World Bank funded program. The attention of interested Consultants is drawn to Section III , paragraphs 3.14, 3.16 and 3.17 of the World Bank’s “Procurement Regulations for IPF Borrowers” July 2016 Procurement Regulations, setting forth the World Bank’s policy on conflict of interest. Consultants may associate with other firms to enhance their qualifications, but should indicate clearly whether the association is in the form of a joint venture and/or a sub-consultancy. In the case of a joint venture, all the partners in the joint venture shall be jointly and severally liable for the entire contract, if selected. A Consultant will be selected in accordance with the Quality and Cost Based Selection method set out in the Procurement Regulations. Further information can be obtained at the address below during office hours i.e. 0800 to 1700 hours. Expressions of interest must be delivered in a written form to the address below (in person, or by mail, or by e-mail) by 30th November 2018 at 11.00am. Chief Executive Officer Kenya National Examinations Council P.O. Box: 73598 00200, Nairobi, Kenya. Head Office National Housing Corporation (NHC) House, Aga Khan Walk, Tel:+254 020 3317412 / 3317413 / 3317419 / 3317427 / 3341027 3341050 / 3341071 / 3341098 / 3341113 / 2213381 Fax: +254-020- 2226032 Mobile:0720741001/0732333860 Email address: ceo@knec.ac.ke Foundation. The founder of “Rudi”, Kiswahili for “go back”, Eugene Buluma and Micheal Khasindu, Khasindu were touched by the children’s plight. At the no man’s land, they gave them food and water every second Sunday of the month. “We were touched by the children’s plight and how the society has neglected them. One does not have to be rich to share,” Eugene and Michael said. Mike, as his friends call him, was the brain behind the foundation. Having lived in Busia town since he was a small boy he had seen how little girls and boys from poor backgrounds struggled to stay in school due to lack of school fees. Some would go without dinner and would not marshal the energy to walk to school the next day. “There would be absenteeism and when they appeared two or three days after, all they could say was, ‘we slept hungry at home. There wasn’t even a morsel of food to cool the pangs of hunger,” Mike said. Founded in 2012, the group was registered in 2015 with 10 members comprising of youths aged below 35 years. The group has three main objectives. The first is “one bread, a thousand smiles” that focuses on feeding street children and in so doing, creating an avenue where the street children can open up and share their problems. “We preferred the feeding programme because this is where we can sit down with the 50 children we cater for and chat. It is at this hour they open up about their background and how they came to the street. We create confidence just by a mere meal. Through sharing we are able to know how to help them,” Buluma said. He said they had partnered with the Hope Foundation that provides the children with counselling services and in this way some have been able to either go back to their families or return to school or engage in constructive work that has changed their lives such as horticultural farming and carpentry. We were touched by the children’s plight and how the society has neglected them. One does not have to be rich to share.. There would be absenteeism and when they appeared two or three days after, all they could say was, ‘we slept hungry at home. There wasn’t even a morsel of food to cool the pangs of hunger - Micheal Khasindu “Counselling has greatly assisted in bringing the family members on board. The children bond with the parents they had left or guardians who could be step-parents, aunts or some other relatives,” Buluma said. Kibaba, a street boy and one of the beneficiaries of Rudi Foundation, said he was grateful to the youth group for the monthly meal sessions pointing out that on such days the street children have a decent meal. “On Sundays such as this one we do not go out to rummage in the dustbins to look for food. We do not bear the humiliation born upon us by security guards outside the hotels,” Kibaba said as he munched a chapati that he had been served. The second is Rudi system that focuses on providing sanitary towels to rural girls and thus keeps them in school. Some of the girls may have dropped out of school due to early pregnancies or they thought they had matured and therefore felt odd to be This is where Rudi Foundation, a youth-run foundation saw it fit to restore the confidence of street children and give them a fresh breath to life
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