October 24-27, 2019, WASHINGTON DC—Since 1993, Character.org has dedicated itself to uplifting the character development of each person from the home and school environments. With peace work based on character and leadership training, Character.org has been a longstanding partner with Global Peace Foundation (GPF) Kenya, partnering in Character.org’s 26th summit in October at Washington D.C. under the theme “Navigating Character Journeys.”

Education Director of GPF Kenya

Diana Kwamboka, the Program Director for Education at GPF Kenya, spoke on the innovative strategies for education implementation that would accommodate the needed character development in students. She gave a presentation touching on the critical role of educators in building environments for learning and the need to train teachers for this. She showed the efforts of GPF Kenya in transforming education to make it relevant to the expectations of the 21st century. The most recent education initiatives have included the Great Places to School and the Leap Hubs programs, which incorporated teacher/student trainings and student hubs that develop the character and skills of the students. Kwamboka said, “As a foundation, our role is to offer mentorship and ensure students showcase their innovative ideas through different platforms, including hackathons and boot camps.”

Team at North Carolina Central University

After the conference, Kwamboka held meetings with different directors and professors at North Carolina Central University (NCCU) exploring their collaboration on future projects. Such as expanding the Leap Hubs to train students to become business and social entrepreneurs. As a way forward, Global Peace Foundation Kenya will continue to communicate with different key schools on the various technologies to invest in to allow the students to create become innovative problem solvers with technology.