INEE Member Spotlight: Loise Gichuhi

Location: Nairobi, Kenya Headshot author

Contact:  loise.gichuhi@inee.org

Job title: Country Focal Point, Kenya; Senior Lecturer, University of Nairobi

Introduce yourself to other members. Tell us who you are and summarise the work you do or interest you have in EiE.  

My name is Loise Gichuhi. I am based at the University of Nairobi, where I coordinate the Education in Emergencies Programme. I am also a trained education economist. I have a passion for humanitarian education and inclusive education that supports marginalised communities and refugees. My work has mainly been centred on Education in emergencies, contextualised curriculum design, development of materials, and implementation. I love strategic collaborations that lead to practical solutions for the population at the bottom of the pyramid. Recently, I coordinated the design of a refugee-ready curriculum with the strategic support of various organisations and financial support from the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs through a grant under the Orange Knowledge Programme, Nuffic. 

Since 2021, I have been the INEE Country Focal Point for Kenya. My role as CFP is to be an official INEE reference person at the country level. The activities of this voluntary role include building and nurturing relationships with INEE members in the country; gaining greater knowledge, being involved in activities and dialogue that support INEE’s mission and vision, and working closely with the INEE Secretariat. I hold several activities that advocate for the right to education for all and especially provide a platform for those whose voices remain latent and unexploited in secondary schools. 

I am also a consultant in education who cuts across different themes and ecosystems in education.

What has been a highlight of your work as a professional in EiE? Feel free to share a personal story.   

What came out of a cup of coffee with a “stranger” that I had met on the INEE platform in 2004 as a member of the Gender Task Team could be cemented as the cornerstone of my journey to where I am today. I met Jackie Kirk when EIE didn’t make sense to many of us. Education in Emergencies was still fresh, and many people were still trying to understand its position in the education discourse. Formalising EiE as a taught programme became the crux of our discussions over a couple of meetings whenever she was in Nairobi from her South Sudan humanitarian work. We had made our goals known to each other, and it was only a matter of time before EIE was born in Kenya. I remember at one point visiting the Rockefeller Foundation regional office in Nairobi to have some financial conversations with the regional head, but it was not successful. Back in the US, Jackie kept in touch with me through the International Rescue Committee office. Unfortunately, Jackie was killed in 2008, along with three others. She had just sent me an email message about a potential private donor. It was devastating to our vision. Fortunately, the International Rescue Committee and the University of Nairobi resolved to continue with the idea and started formal discussions. I took the innovative challenge in my career path to break out of the proverbial box and bring together two unfamiliar organisations: an INGO and a university, to develop an accredited programme from zero content, where teachers were to train inhouse as no other institution was offering EIE as a full curriculum that could have helped the faculty with best practises, and involve the international community to help us conceptualise what became the current Masters in EiE as an academic discipline. This remains a milestone in my professional journey, thanks to Prof. Mary Mendenhall of Teachers College, Columbia, for walking with me and the university in the infant stages.

Jackie Kirk lives in my everyday work in the humanitarian sector 

When and why did you join INEE, and what is the value of INEE membership to you?  

I joined INEE in 2004 as I explored ideas and solutions to some of the gaps and challenges I had encountered in teaching and supervising students who were researching marginalised and underprivileged communities. That time I had a student who was working in Darfur, Sudan. I have never looked back. INEE has remained a one-stop point for many things tied together. As a member of INEE, I have benefited from documented literature, contextualised case studies, blogs, and training materials. As an EiE practitioner and an educator, I find that the INEE website has more materials that are well-researched. Obviously, I have met great people and made great friends. 

How do you currently engage with the INEE network? 

Currently, I am the Country's Focal Point in Kenya. This role has exposed me to several events and activities that are not only enriching my professionalism but also continuing to motivate me to work hard for the EiE ecosystem. I also coordinate, moderate, and engage in activities on the #kenya channel in the INEE Community of Practice, where I bring Kenyan and other INEE members together for discussions and regular sharing of relevant EiE news, opportunities, resources, and events. It has been motivating to host INEE Meet-Ups that are not only national but topical and have attracted global participants. I coordinate and provide secondary school students with a platform to voice their ideas and innovative solutions to what they experience in their environments. I have been invited to African-based events that enhance our Africanism and those that provide a platform for contextualised discussions on what Africans are facing in crisis contexts. As a member of the INEE network, I am a certified INEE Minimum Standards Trainer. I am also part of the founding team of the African Humanitarian Standards Network as the East African Coordinator.

How would you like INEE members to connect and engage with you? What skills, experience, and/or technical support would you be willing to share or provide to other members and/or INEE Secretariat? 

Members can reach me through email at loise.gichuhi@inee.org and through the INEE Community of Practise. Those in Kenya who would like to know about the courses I have designed and implemented by the University of Nairobi can reach out at loise.wambui@uonbi.ac.ke

Anything else you want to share with members? 

Let us engage passionately for humanity and for that lonely voice in the EiE ecosystem

*Published on September 2023. 

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