Kenya: Empowering girls through mentoring in STEM for informed career choices
© UNESCO/ Alice Ochanda
Scientific Camps of Excellence for Mentoring Girls in STEM (Kenya)
Since 2014, annual Scientific Camps of Excellence for Mentoring Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) are organized by the UNESCO Nairobi Office, together with the Government of Kenya, the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation, and the University of Nairobi organize annual Scientific Camps of Excellence for Mentoring Girls in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM).
These one week long camps involve career choice discussions, life skills mentoring, experience-sharing with STEM university students, science experiments, and industry visits. By mid-2015, more than 400 high school girls, from all over the country, had the opportunity to participate in the project.
In this context, 40 Kenyan STEM teachers were also trained in gender-responsive teaching, and new partnerships for enhancing women’s participation in STEM were established at national level with relevant ministries, government institutions, the private sector and science-focused industries. As a result, this project gave a lot more visibility to UNESCO’s focus on addressing the challenge of girls’ enrollment in science and engineering studies.
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Quality science education is a pillar for a more sustainable future – we must invest in it, to empower every woman and man, to catalyse the innovation and creativity we need for the century ahead. 
