Improving School Readiness Through the Tayari ECD Programme in Kenya

Improving School Readiness Through the Tayari ECD Programme in Kenya

I served as Chief of Party for the Tayari Early Childhood Development Programme at RTI International in Nairobi, Kenya, from 2014 to 2019. Tayari was a USD 20 million, CIFF-funded, four-year programme designed to improve primary school readiness for pre-primary school children in Kenya. This initiative is one of the most significant early childhood and foundational learning programmes I have led, and it reflects my long-standing commitment to strengthening early learning systems in Africa through evidence-based, scalable, and contextually grounded approaches.

In my role, I provided overall technical and operational leadership for the programme. This included overseeing implementation, guiding programme strategy, supporting high-quality delivery, managing teams, and ensuring that the initiative remained focused on improved outcomes for young children. My leadership combined programme management with technical direction, drawing on my broader experience in education policy, teacher support, institutional strengthening, and research.

A central focus of Tayari was to support children in the years immediately before entry into primary school, recognizing that school readiness is foundational to later learning success. The programme contributed to strengthening the quality of early childhood education by aligning implementation with the realities of Kenyan learning environments and by maintaining a strong emphasis on measurable improvement in children’s early development and learning outcomes. It was also implemented during a period of important education sector transition in Kenya, when pre-primary education responsibilities were being operationalized within county government structures. The programme therefore helped support ongoing efforts to strengthen coordination, capacity, and continuity in the delivery of quality early learning at county level.

Under my leadership, the programme yielded higher than expected school-readiness indicators, especially for learners in low-cost private schools. This was particularly important because it demonstrated that quality early childhood interventions can support improved outcomes for children in underserved settings when they are well designed, carefully implemented, and supported by strong technical and operational systems.

My contribution to the initiative also drew on my expertise in:

• ECDE programme leadership
• Foundational learning
• Capacity building
• Monitoring, evaluation and learning
• Education systems strengthening
• Research-informed programming
• Partnership and stakeholder engagement

The Tayari experience also connects closely with my published and presentation-based thought leadership on early learning and foundational skills. For example, I co-authored work on the programme’s impact on early mathematics skills, including the publication Mathematics from the Beginning: Evaluating the Tayari pre-primary programme’s impact on early mathematic skills.

I am interested in the AU ECED-FLN Cluster as a space for sharing experience, learning from peers, and contributing to stronger regional dialogue on early childhood development, school readiness, and foundational literacy and numeracy. My broader professional background includes more than 20 years of experience across programme leadership, policy engagement, teacher and ministry capacity building, technical assistance, and research in Kenya, South Sudan, Uganda, and other contexts. I look forward to connecting with fellow practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and partners working to improve early learning outcomes for children across Africa