Andrew Okoth Ochieng’s Reflections on Transitioning from Nuru Kenya Education to the Leadership Program

Andrew Okoth Ochieng’ reflects on his recent move to the Leadership Program to take on the position of Training Officer.

I first joined Nuru Kenya in August of 2012 as an Education Coordinator with the Education Program. This program’s goal is to improve literacy for pupils in rural public schools to standard two level. Pupils in every class are taught for one hour once a week and four times a month to assist them to improve their literacy.

The Leadership Program, through its team members, enriched us with knowledge and skills that helped to improve my facilitation skills and relationship with other team members. I had valued the Education Program very much hence dedicated my time to ensure that we were able to meet the program goal. During my stay in Education, I attended several leadership trainings such asBNLT, Focus Project 1 and 2 as well as Feedback.  These topics were very interesting and attending these trainings made me more interested in joining the training team. Attending these trainings made me realize that the Leadership Program, by training the employees who mobilize the community, helps to eradicate extreme poverty at many levels.

When I heard that the Leadership Program was looking for a new Training Officer, I decided to apply so as to try my luck. I was called for an interview and thankfully was offered the position. I was very happy to experience a new working environment. I had to first onboard the new Education Coordinators who were to fill my position. Even though my colleagues were sad to see me go, I had to give them hope that I was still part of the Nuru family and would be able to continue to fight to eliminate poverty in rural areas of Kenya.

I took a number of weeks to adapt to the Leadership Program as the team members spend most of their time in the office as compared to the Education Program whereby we had to spend most of our time in the field. I give a special thanks to the entire team for a warm welcome and support that they offered me. Since then, the Leadership Program has nourished me with the knowledge and specific skills to improve my facilitation skills and impact the rest of the Nuru Kenya staff.

I appreciate being part of leadership team for I have been transformed socially, psychologically and emotionally. I have gained a lot of experience especially in training adults which I didn’t have. This has helped me to effectively deliver the lessons to the Nuru team including the Education Program.