A classroom can change a child’s future. But first, someone has to repair its roof, switch on the lights, fill its bookshelves, and remind its learners that their dreams matter.
That simple yet profound belief has earned Strathmore University’s Student Civic Initiative an Honourable Mention in the 2026 MacJannet Prize for Global Citizenship, one of the world’s most prestigious recognitions for university-led civic engagement programmes.
Presented by the MacJannet Foundation and the Talloires Network of Engaged Universities, the award celebrates universities whose students are tackling society’s most pressing challenges through meaningful community service. In a global network spanning hundreds of universities across dozens of countries, Strathmore once again finds itself among institutions demonstrating that higher education is not only about producing graduates but also about producing citizens committed to transforming society.
The recognition comes at a time when many rural schools across Kenya continue to grapple with inadequate infrastructure, limited learning resources, environmental degradation, and unequal educational opportunities. While these challenges often dominate headlines, the Student Civic Initiative has chosen a different response. Rolling up its sleeves and working alongside communities to create lasting change.
Led by Dr. Antoinette Kankindi, Senior Lecturer, Strathmore Law School, the initiative places students at the centre of community transformation. Each academic year, a leadership team of 25 law students coordinates the programme, while hundreds of other students contribute through donating Kshs. 50 each day, amounting to Kshs. 250 weekly and approximately Kshs. 7,000 over the academic semesters. Together, these contributions become classrooms, books, clean water, electricity, and hope.
Since its establishment in 2022, the initiative has organised four successful work camps at Enengeetia Primary School in Mau, Narok County, where students have worked hand in hand with the local community to improve learning conditions and restore the surrounding environment.
The initiative has renovated 15 classrooms, installed electricity across classrooms, the staffroom, and the school compound, dug a well complete with an electric pump and water filtration system, connected the school to the internet, and provided a printer to support learning and administration.
Recognising that education extends beyond infrastructure, the initiative has also invested directly in learners. Through monthly tuition programmes, Stratizens have mentored and taught more than 500 Junior Secondary School learners in Grades 7, 8, and 9, helping achieve an impressive 90 percent transition rate to high school. Every year since 2023, the programme has supplied exercise books to over a third of the school’s learners while equipping teachers with essential reference books in English, Mathematics, and Kiswahili.
Environmental restoration has become another defining pillar of the programme. By planting trees alongside infrastructure improvements, students are helping communities recover from the effects of deforestation while reinforcing the link between healthy ecosystems and sustainable livelihoods.
The initiative’s impact extends well beyond the communities it serves. Since 2023, more than 480 Strathmore students have participated in the Civic Initiative, with the number of alumni growing every year. More importantly, the experience is creating a ripple effect of service. Inspired by their participation, two alumni have gone on to establish and lead their own community initiatives, supporting learning programmes and providing meals for children attending underserved schools in informal settlements within their own communities in Nairobi.
The Student Civic Initiative reflects Strathmore University’s longstanding commitment to its core value of Service to Society, offering students opportunities to apply their knowledge, leadership, and compassion to real-world challenges while learning alongside the communities they serve.
Being recognised alongside other globally acclaimed initiatives underscores the growing international impact of Strathmore University’s community engagement model.
While the honour celebrates what has already been accomplished, it also points to the extraordinary potential of young people when they choose service over comfort, and action over indifference.
One repaired classroom may not change the world overnight. But for the child who walks into it every morning with renewed hope, it can change everything. And that is precisely the kind of global citizenship the MacJannet Prize exists to celebrate.
Article written by Stephen Wakhu.
