Prof Chacha Nyaigotti
Guest of Honour and Keynote speaker
Prof Chacha Nyaigotti Chacha is a Kenyan playwright and consummate educationalist. Previously, he served as an executive secretary of the Inter-University Council for East Africa and was the first CEO of the Kenyan Higher Education Loans. At present, he serves as the Chairman of the Kenyan Commission for University Education (CUE).
Prof. Chacha was educated at Kenyatta College, receiving a BEd (Swahili Language) and later studied at Yale University, gaining an MA in Anthropological Linguistics and a Ph.D. in Swahili Language Linguistics. He has been a Tutorial Fellow and Lecturer in Swahili Language and Linguistics at Kenyatta University and later Egerton University in Kenya.
He was a Research Professor at the Institute of Regional Integration and Development of the Catholic University of East Africa.
Dr Julius Jwan
Guest of Honour
Dr Julius Jwan is the Director/CEO at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD). He holds a PhD in Educational Leadership & Management and a Master of Science (MSc) Degree in Educational Research Methods - both from the UK. He also holds a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) Degree in Education Communication & Management from Norway and a Master’s Degree in Linguistics from MoI University where he also graduated with a Bachelor of Education Degree.
Dr Jwan has published widely on educational leadership and management in international journals and book chapters. He has also published three books on educational leadership and management and qualitative research methods. He is the winner of British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society (BELMAS) Best Doctoral Thesis Award, 2011.
Dr Jackline Nyerere
Keynote Speaker
Dr Jackline Nyerere has over 15 years experience working in higher education in teaching, research, and administration. She is currently Senior Lecturer of Educational Leadership and Policy at Kenyatta University. She is also Co-Chair of Education for Sustainable Development in Africa - Next Generation Research (ESDA-NGR) Network.
Jackline holds a PhD Degree from Kenyatta University, Kenya and a professional training in Higher Education Leadership and Management from Carl Von Ossienzky University of Oldenburg, Germany.
Her research projects are focused on internationalization of education, university partnerships, open and flexible learning, as well as sustainability. Jackline’s publications appear in the International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, African Journal of Sustainable Development, European Journal of Training and Development, South African Education Journal, Routledge, Spears Media Press, among others. Jackline was a visiting researcher to the University of Padova, Italy, in 2011, and a research fellow at the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP) in 2016.
Prof John Aluko Orodho
Keynote Speaker
Prof John Aluko Orodho is an Associate Research Professor of Curriculum and holds a Doctorate Degree in Curriculum (Science Education) and Master’s Degree of Education in Curriculum from Kenyatta University as well as Bachelor of Education (Science, Hons.) from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Prof. Orodho has been a science educator in Secondary schools, High Schools, Polytechnics and currently at university level. Apart from teaching, he has extensively undertaken research and disseminated findings in various international conferences. So far, he has published ten textbooks and over one hundred papers in peer-reviewed international journals.
Prof Orodho is also a professional consultant in World Bank funded projects such as the African Centre of Excellence in Teaching and Learning Mathematics and Science (ACETLMS) and Kenya Youth Employment and Opportunities project (KYEOP).
He is the current chairman of School of Education Board of Postgraduate studies and previously served as the National Liaison Officer of the Organization of Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSEA).
Plenary Speakers
Dr Nicholas Wachira
Dr Wachira is the Head of Programmes at the AKU-IED, EA. He holds a PHD in Educational Leadership and Management. Apart from teaching, he has engaged in ELM research and in establishing Makerspace Innovative Learning Centres and development of Assessment guidelines and Makerspace tool kits. He has also been a consultant in World Bank funded programmes. Wachira has also worked as a consultant for Firelight Foundation in the USA to build the monitoring and evaluation capacity of community based organizations. Wachira also serves on the board on TANFIDE consortium that serves to build educational capacity of institutions in Tanzania as well as engage in research. He is also part of a consortium of fifteen Universities in more than ten countries engaged in teacher leadership research “international study on teacher leadership.”
Dr Jane F. A. Rarieya
Dr Rarieya is currently an education consultant and a visiting Associate Professor at the Networks of Quality, Teaching & Learning, Aga Khan University. She was, until recently, the Assistant Director at the Network of Teaching & Learning, Aga Khan University and Senior Research Fellow and Head of the Durban Office at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), South Africa.
She holds a BEd in Arts (English Language and Literature) (Kenyatta University, Nairobi), an MEd in Teacher Education (AKU-IED, Karachi) and EdD in Gender and Educational Management from Keele University (UK). Jane’s expertise lies in the area of qualitative methodologies as well as gender and leadership issues in educational contexts. She also has a special interest in reflective practice. Jane has been engaged in a number of research studies both nationally and internationally. Notable of these are studies that aimed at developing national policy frameworks for student retention in Higher Education and gender equity in basic education as well as the development of a national strategic framework for the eradication of gender-based violence in South Africa.
In addition, she has researched children’s resilience in contexts of poverty and HIV/AIDS prevalence in Kenya. She has sat as an advisor on a number of international studies. She also led capacity development workshops on gender for Speakers and Members of Parliament in South Africa and Zimbabwe. She is also a fellow of the Commonwealth Centre for Education at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom, a Research Associate at the HSRC and a member of the Board of Trustees, Children in Freedom Trust, UK and several schools in Kenya. Jane’s expertise lies in the area of educational improvement, leadership in education and gender issues in education. She has worked extensively in educational development in East and Southern Africa, South Asia as well as with educators from the North America, UK, UAE & Portugal, particularly in the area of teacher education and leadership.
She sits on several editorial boards and her publication record spans the authoring and co-authoring of three books, more than 45 research reports and conference presentations, more than 30 journal articles and book chapters. She has been a guest editor to two journals.
She is an avid reviewer of journals and books and of recent has been increasingly called upon by publishing houses and journals to review gender-related publications emanating from East Africa. Throughout her academic life (and she has never left education) she has been inspired by a commitment to transforming the world by empowering women and girls through education and ensuring school makes a positive difference in the lives of girls and boys. As part of her continuing educational commitments, she is now involved in research and consultancy on gender and leadership issues in school contexts as well as school improvement matters.
