On 2nd April 2026, the Ministry of Education together with the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD), education stakeholders and development partners launched a national roll-out of Values-based Education (VbE). The launch of VbE as a key pillar of Competency Based Education marked a great milestone for curriculum reform in Kenya. The VbE main goal is to nurture core values in learners to become ‘empowered, engaged and ethical citizens’ for positive and holistic transformation of society.

During the launch, various guests reiterated the need for nurturing values through the whole school approach – formal, non-formal and informal dimensions of teaching and learning. ‘What would you like to see in an educated person?’ asked Prof. Charles Ong’ondo, Executive Director of the KICD as he expressed the need to teach VbE through a whole school approach. He stated that the VbE resource materials are grounded in research and that the pilot study was conducted in 79 schools across 19 Counties in Kenya.

‘Values have to be lived by older people and adults so that the younger children can pick and practice them’ said the Chief guest from the Ministry of Education as he voiced about the importance for cultivating values among the citizenry. The VbE values include respect, responsibility, social justice, unity, patriotism, peace, integrity and love. ‘Values-based Education goes beyond academic success’ said Victoria Muoka, Regional Director at the Teachers Service Commission as she emphasized that values are important in building the moral compass, character of the nation and fostering social harmony.

The launch of VbE underscored the power of partnership in transforming education in Kenya. Various education stakeholders and development partners including Peter Kingori, Director of Character Education Programme at the Centre for Character and Leadership worked in partnership with the KICD in the development, review and writing of the VbE resource materials for Comprehensive School teachers, Senior School teachers and Heads of Institution in Basic Education. Further details, and the article itself can be found here

The Centre for Character and Leadership was awarded the Strategic Initiative Development (SID) grant by the Association for Moral Education.

The grant is meant to support a research dissemination workshop for school leaders as moral leaders and policy makers on Cultivating Virtues for Leadership (CViL). The CViL program was piloted in Kenya for a period of three years involving school Principals and teachers from 31 Secondary Schools located in 16 Counties across the country.

Also, SID grant will support in organizing and hosting Coaching and Mentorship Speaker Series that are geared towards empowerment of school leaders on Servant leadership, Character Education and human flourishing.

The Coaching and Mentorship Speaker Series will be facilitated in collaboration with various local education stakeholders, CViL developers from the Center for Character and Citizenship, University of Missouri -St. Louis, and education researchers from the Centre for Research in International and Comparative Education.

The Centre Director for the Character Education Program, and Chairperson of the Association for Character Development in Africa, Peter Kingori attended the Jubilee Centre Annual Conference that was held from 8th – 10th January 2026 at the Oriel College, Oxford. The Conference theme was ‘Character, Caught, Taught and Sought: Theories and Evidence.’

Speaking during the conference, Mr. Kingori joined a Panel session that discussed on ‘Building Global Networks for Character and Flourishing, ‘ along with other distinguished scholars from the USA, Spain, Urgentina, and Singapore. His presentation focussed on the overview of Character Education in Africa and collaborative plan to advance character development within the Continent through the Association for Character Development in Africa.

During the conference, the leadership team of the Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues led the launch of the Global Character Alliance (GCA). GCA is an international network dedicated to advancing character and values education through collaboration, research and policy influence. The Centre for Character and Leadership and the Association for Character Development in Africa are among the founding members of the Global Character Alliance.

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