The efforts of the Area Advisory Councils in identifying
the very needy of OVCs to be sponsored must be lauded. However
one of the main challenges remains the identification and
selection of beneficiaries. With very many thousands of
OVCs in Kenya ensuring that only the very needy of students
is selected remains a challenge. The number of hopeful applicants
is very high compared to the target beneficiaries e.g. About
660 applications were received by the USAID Kenya Education
Office for possible inclusion in the list of year 2007 beneficiaries.
Unfortunately the obligated funds were not sufficient to
cover this and only about 472 of them were eventually selected.
Applications continue to be received at the USAID offices
as information reaches more and more of the target population.
Ensuring that all stakeholders in the scholarship are kept
up to date and managing the flow of information smoothly
remains a challenge. This is sometimes aggravated by the
location of some of the institutions in very remote areas.
However constant effort is being made to ensure that all
relevant information be it payment of school fees or other
schooling related issues are communicated and addressed
on a timely and regular basis.
The scholarship is currently scheduled to end next year.
The beneficiaries are being advised and counselled to make
arrangements for sponsorship from year 2009 onwards. While
some beneficiaries will have completed their studies some
will be midstream and their expectations and hope need to
be properly managed to ensure that the very seed of hope
that has been planted is not destroyed.
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