Dr. Jackline Nyerere

Jackline is a PlanAdapt Fellow based in Nairobi, Kenya.

Her research focus is on education for sustainable development, and internationalization of education. Jackline is a member of the ACU Commonwealth Climate Resilience Network (CCRN) Steering Committee. She is also a member of Education for Sustainable Development in Africa programme.

Jackline is currently leading the transforming universities for a changing climate project in Kenya. The project, which I funded by the UKRI, seeks to support universities action on climate change and contribute to sustainable development. Through this project, Jackline has worked with diverse stakeholders including policy makers and civil society organizations to design and implement climate change interventions. From May 2022, Jackline is coordinating a green education hub at Kenyatta University. The Hub spearheads research, co-design of teaching and learning materials on climate change, sustainable development and green education. Another key role of the Hub is coordinating the students clubs and offering them a platform to take climate action through co-creation and dissemination of knowledge, community service advocacy activities. Jackline is also working on a project on appropriate skilling to enhance the employability of women in Kenya. The project is funded by Bill and Melinda Gates under Kenyatta University Women Empowerment Hub.

As a consultant, Jackline has worked in a number of projects including a review of DFID’s Climate Impacts Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement (CIRCLE) Program in Sub-Saharan Africa. The review entailed an assessment of the program’s effectiveness midterm in relation to its objectives, and recommendations for future support of the program’s fellowship and institutional strengthening components. Previously, Jackline has undertaken a mid-term review of Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship program. The evaluation entailed an assessment of the program’s implementation, achievement and outcomes.

She has also led a baseline survey of the status of open and distance learning in Kenya. This assignment involved scoping open and distance learning programs in Kenyan universities, their status, as well as challenges in provision of these programs to inform interventions by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL). Jackline has also been engaged in a review of education programs in Kenya and Tanzania. This review was to both provide feedback on the implementation of quality assurance strategies prescribed by the university commissions of both countries, and to inform the inter-University Council for East Africa on the need for any interventions to improve quality of education programs. Other projects that Jackline has undertaken as a consultant in the recent past include a project on ‘integration of transferable skills into secondary and Technical & Vocational Education and Training in Sub-Sahara Africa’, and another on ‘initiatives to improve quality of secondary education in East Africa’. The former entailed scoping initiatives to integrate transferable /employability skills in training while the latter involved identifying gaps in the initiatives to improve quality education in East Africa. The education projects were both commissioned by the MasterCard Foundation through the African Institute for Development Policy (AFIDEP).

Jackline holds a PhD Degree in Educational Leadership and Policy from Kenyatta University, Kenya and professional training in Higher Education Leadership and Management from Carl Von Ossienzky University of Oldenburg, Germany. During her sabbatical in 2016, she worked as a Knowledge Translation Scientist with the AFIDEP.

For more info, see Jackline’s Linkedin page