English Access Microscholarship Program

The US Embassy Nairobi invites interested applicants to submit proposals from implementing partners for 2022 -2023 English Access Microscholarship Program (Access) in response to the reference Notice of Funding Announcement (NOFO). Due to the uncertain situation with the COVID19 pandemic in Kenya, the Program might be delayed or postponed. There might also be restrictions in numbers of people who can attend public gatherings, travels and curfews hours, which might affect the implementation of the program. In this regard the submitted proposal should have an innovative component to engage Access students both in person and virtually. For virtual programs, proposals should offer creative ideas for remote/online content delivery, online/virtual promotional activities, and virtual participant/audience follow-up. Background Information The English Access Microscholarship Program (Access) is a global program supported by the U.S Department of State. Access provides highly motivated economically disadvantaged youth with an opportunity to learn English language skills and enhance leadership through teaching the basics of American culture and values of democratic development and civic engagement. It gives participants skills that may lead to better jobs and educational prospects. The program targets 13 – 20 year old students from underprivileged families to participate in afterschool instructions and intensive sessions. Since its inception in 2004, approximately 198,408 students in more than 95 countries have participated in the Access Program. In Kenya, there are more than 780 Access alumni, many of who are studying at, or have graduated from, top-tier universities throughout the country. The Access program must provide two years of English study, consisting of at least 180 hours of instruction per year. The goal of the Access Program is to equip bright, talented, economically deserving students with a range of global citizenship skills anchored by the core components of enhanced English language skills and a stronger Kenyan-U.S. cross-cultural understanding. The global citizenship skills aim to build individuals with stronger self-esteem and a keen sense of public service in an increasingly globalized world. Global citizenship skills include, but are not limited to, critical and creative thinking, leadership, information technology, civic outreach, and media literacy. Participants should commit to enroll in classes during the full two year program. Selected participants must be bright, economically-disadvantaged secondary school students with a beginning level of English, ideally in Form 2 at the beginning of the program in January 2022. Students will graduate with certificates of completion from the U.S. Embassy Nairobi at the end of their two-year program. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION The Public Diplomacy Section of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi announces an open competition to equip bright, talented, economically deserving students to learn English, develop civic engagement and leadership skills and gain multicultural awareness through teaching the basis of American culture and vales. Project-based and task-based approaches should be employed in order to help learners to understand and work on authentic local and global challenges. The English language component should break from traditional models to deliver a more meaningful, interactive language learning experience centered on the learner. Project-based and experiential approaches should be employed in order to help the learner use English to understand, discuss, and resolve authentic local and global challenges. Enhancement and off-site immersion activities should help extend the language learning experience beyond the classroom walls. Access classrooms should serve as strong educational models for a community. Programs should, where possible, aim at sharing new and relevant practices with English teachers in other schools, especially those from which the Access students are chosen. Other members of the community, including interested administrators, content teachers, and future educators studying at nearby universities, can also be included in outreach efforts. The participants’ parents should also be made aware of what and how the students are learning, and appraised of what they can do at home to encourage their children to learn more effectively. Civic outreach activities should further cement the connection between the Access program and community. Providers can submit proposals of varying size with a minimum of $50,000 USD and a maximum of $175,000 USD, depending on the Provider’s capability, infrastructure, and geographic spread. The grantee should work with students in Mombasa and/or Isiolo Counties. The project supports the Embassy’s strategic goal of sustaining Kenyan economy to achieve rapid economic growth. Program proposals should include using U.S. exchange program alumni, and the target region is Mombasa and/or Isiolo Counties. Ideal partners include Educational Institutions, non-profit organizations that use innovative methods to reach to economically disadvantaged youths in this region. U.S. Embassy Nairobi reserves the right to split the project between two or more providers and may request providers to adjust their final proposals and budgets as necessary. All possible costs – instruction, books/materials, transportation, enhancement activities, administration, food and possible accommodation for intensive sessions – should be covered. Please see the budget section below for more information on these items. After-School/Weekend Instruction The Access Program must deliver 360 hours of total instruction reasonably distributed over the two-year period. The first component of the 360 hours should be in English classes meeting at least twice per week. The majority of the program’s hours will be in this component. Classes typically last from 1.5 to 3 hours. It is the responsibility of the Provider to consider the schedule of the students, especially during the initial recruitment phase, to ensure that Access classes do not interfere with students’ regular school schedule. Access Programs should also include computer instruction to complement English language classes and enhancement activities. Computer classes, multimedia learning, or social media activities during after-school Instruction and/or intensive sessions should be included in the proposal. Enhancement Activities The second component of the 360 total hours will be enhancement activities. These activities are aimed at fostering Kenyan-U.S. cross-cultural understanding, as well as developing other key global citizenship skills, such as community service and leadership. These activities are an opportunity for educators and students to be creative and extend the language learning experience beyond the classroom walls. Topics to include U.S. History, U.S. Popular Culture, U.S. Education, Gender Issues, the Environment, Ethnic Tolerance, Democracy, and Civil Society. Activities that are designed to provide hands on and interactive opportunities for students to engage in discussions, games, trips to museums, workplaces, theaters, celebrations of U.S. holidays such as hosting a Thanksgiving dinner or a Fourth of July picnic; writing and producing skits about key events in U.S. History; talent shows in which Access students perform songs by U.S. musicians; science-themed activities relating to environmental issues; and inviting guest speakers to discuss aspects of life in the U.S. such as ethnic diversity and tolerance. Other possibilities include civic outreach activities such as volunteering at nearby orphanages, homes for the elderly, or organizing the cleaning of a nearby park or forest. In-school activity possibilities include filming role-plays, hosting a visiting speaker from the U.S. Embassy or local community, creating a web page in the computer lab, creating a program newspaper or celebrating a key U.S. holiday such as Martin Luther King Day. As much interaction with members of the U.S. Embassy or other American youth online is highly encouraged. It is recommended to have a minimum of at least one enhancement activity per month. The hours used for such activities will be counted as part of the total 360 hours of the program. Enhancement activities are usually between 1.5 to 4 hours, and must occur regularly throughout the two years of the program, including during after-school Instruction. Intensive Sessions The third component of the 360 hours of program instruction are two-week long intensive sessions that should not exceed 8 hours per day or 40 hours a week. These should be conducted at an off-site to create more opportunity for students to bond with their classmates. Intensive sessions usually occur during school holidays and last 4-5 days. In Kenya, students usually sleep over at the intensive session site and meals are provided. The aim of these sessions is to provide students with time to fully experience an English-medium environment outside of the classroom for a sustained period. A typical day should combine English Language learning instruction with US cultural activities such as drama, computers, art, music, games, team-building, peace building, problem solving, and creative activities that allow the students to gain confidence in English and to consolidate the global citizenship skills that they have been learning during the entire program. All intensive sessions should provide students with a window on U.S. culture and values, and their activities as much as possible should incorporate invited speakers (e.g. U.S. exchanges alumni, Embassy personnel, and other native and non-native English speaking partners, etc.). Community Service Activities Access students should also be involved in community service activities to increase their awareness of issues facing their respective communities while also gaining an understanding of the ways they can positively contribute to civil society. Examples of community service activities are the following: volunteering at a nearby senior citizens home, tutoring primary school students in English, and organizing the cleaning of a nearby park or forest. Community Outreach The Access Program site should serve as a model classroom. Efforts should be made to reach parents and other English teachers in the community, as well as include teachers of other subject matters, administrators, English Language Fellows, alumni, etc. in the Access experience, where appropriate. While it is understandable that such efforts should not interrupt instructional hours, a plan should be made to reach out several times during the Access program to key groups that stand to gain from being informed about the unique program. Examples include holding a workshop for parents addressing how to support a child learning a foreign language, a workshop for future teachers at a nearby English language teaching department or for current teachers at the schools from which Access students have been recruited, and a meeting for administrators to better understand how to create stronger foreign language programs in their own schools.