Andrew Gakiria

Andrew Gakiria is the National Coordinator of Kenya e-Learning Centre (KeLC) and a course manager for e-Learning programmes in Africa. He also provides support to online tutors as well as facilitation in workshops. Gakiria is the World Summit Award Digital Content expert for Kenya. He holds a Postgraduate Diploma in International Relations and Security Studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Geography and Sociology from the University of Nairobi. He is also an expert of new learning technologies having taken a technical course from the University of Furtwangen Germany. Prior to establishing KeLC, Gakiria served as a senior policy analyst at the Directorate of e-Government, Office of the President in charge of ICT policy and e-Learning. “I started my e-Learning career after undertaking a seven-month e-Learning development and implementation blended learning course (eLDI) in 2006, run by InWEnt” he said. “Upon successful completion of the course, I was tasked with the development of an e-Learning programme for e-Government promotion in Kenya. In 2007, my office sponsored the participation of 60 Government officers at the e-Learning Africa conference held in Nairobi. Immediately after, we hosted a stakeholder’s roundtable for the Government participants to share their experiences at the conference and explore a way forward for adoption of e-Learning in public sector. Presentations were made by representatives from InWEnt and the Namibian e-Learning center, from which a decision was made to explore establishment of a national e-Learning center in Kenya. I was appointed to head a secretariat to spearhead establishment of the Kenya e-Learning center as a multi stakeholder initiative. The center deals with technical support and capacity building for promotion of e-Learning implementation in Kenya. Recently, Kenya e-Learning Centre was appointed the lead implementing agency for the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) e-learning programme. This is a result of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the Government of Kenya (GoK) and COMESA to strengthen and develop capacity in the COMESA region through e-Learning. In his spare time Andrew enjoys travelling, farming, swimming, outdoor activities and listening to reggae music. Andrew Gakiria can be contacted at: gakiria@kelc.org