The IVVN African Schools Outreach Programme was established to provide a network of women scientists in Africa with the knowledge and resources (in the form of a mobile laboratory in a suitcase) required to deliver scientific workshops in their local schools. Since its inception in 2019, the Kenyan scientists involved in the program, together with KeAWARD partners, have visited two schools and empowered 120 Kenyan girls. Unfortunately, activities have been disrupted due to Covid-19; however, the Kenyan team recently resumed activities and were able to deliver workshops at two schools in June 2021.

The Kenyan outreach team visited Naivasha Girls Secondary School on 12 June 2021. During their visit, the team hosted two rabies vaccination workshops, engaging 82 girls aged 16 – 17 years old. The workshop is designed to teach students about the importance of vaccination and gives them the opportunity to practice micro pipetting, before performing an experiment to determine the percentage of dogs that have received a rabies vaccine. An important part of the workshop is that the students can interact with the scientists leading the experiment to find out more about being a scientist. Following the experimental session, the team gave mentorship and career guidance presentations to 1,000 schoolgirls in the school hall. Read more