SPOCE To Launch New Charity 

Renowned project and programme management company Spoce, demonstrates determination to change the world with the launch of KISII, a charity dedicated to improving the education systems in the developing world.

The newly formed independent charity is determined to incite drastic improvements in the state of public schools in Kenya, with smaller class sizes, improved equipment and more encouragement for students to stay in education longer.

In October 2008 while running a PRINCE2 training course in Nairobi, Kenya, Carol Wilson and Paul Bradley of SPOCE forged a relationship with two people from the Kisii region, Kenya. Zablon Rashid Minyonga is a businessman operating in Nairobi, and John Oberio is a Primary School Headmaster in Kisii.

Project management consultant at Spoce, Paul Bradley said, "We are used to developing project and programme management courses like the PRINCE2 and MSP distance learning courses, so the development of education overseas makes for an exciting change. Spoce have long dreamed of conceiving their own charity but had forever struggled to pinpoint a worthy cause. I think the delay is down to us needing to find a cause that truly touched our hearts whilst similarly not already benefiting from the support and work of another charity."

Fellow project management consultant, Carol Wilson added, "Whilst in Kenya we saw first hand the difficulties faced within the local education system; one school employed just nine teachers for 680 children. We spent valuable hours with these children as well as the teachers and it really brought to light that we could help, and how we could help."

Education in Kenya became free in 2003, and whilst a revolutionary development in a country where education was only previously available to the wealthy, Kenyan schools are now persistently short of teachers and are struggling to cope with a severe overcrowding of classrooms, seriously diminishing the standard of teaching that the children receive.

The KISII charities primary concerns are to increase the exportation of qualified teachers to the most overcrowded and deprived schools, whilst also funding the construction of new and larger buildings.

Kenya's higher education establishments are frequently considered to be substandard in quality, but recent years have seen a flux of new establishments opening, along with greatly improved facilities and standards of teaching.

Unfortunately, young pupils are significantly held back from attaining that level of education if they are not supported by a teacher with the time to help them. Even the brightest of students will fall behind when attempting to learn in classes of such large proportions.

Mr Bradley added, "Lots of the children we met were clearly so bright and full of potential, yet were unable to fulfil it due to the poor structure of their education.

"We felt working on the education system was a way to integrate guidance from the bottom and help younger generations to truly change their lives for the better. Through improving the education of Kenya's youth, we are assisting them to help themselves as well as their families and friends within the community. We also hope to see a number of the children progressing on to become teachers and educate others just as they were.

"We have decided to initially focus our attentions on three schools with who we worked while on our maiden voyage to Kenya. It's just fantastic to have met those that we will be helping, and to know that we will continue to visit and see the progress made for ourselves."

Whilst Kisii will stand as an independent charity, the work completed will be heavily funded by project and programme management company Spoce. The charity is currently arranging plans for a number of fundraising events to be held throughout 2009. As funding's and resources increase Kisii plans to extend their projects much further a field and benefit children in their thousands.

The projects undertaken by Kisii will adopt the principles of the PRINCE2 method whilst reaping the advantages of SPOCE's excellence in project management. In order to keep the public informed of progress made, Kisii will regularly post project files on their website for people to review, learn from, and be inspired by.

About Spoce

SPOCE Project Management Limited is a professional company operating in the OGC Best Practice markets (PRINCE2, MSP, ITIL & M_o_R ).

The Company's strategy is to maintain an efficient, professional, administrative core, backed up by three key specialist units that provide technical excellence on: The OGC Best Practice methods, Instructor-led training and e-learning solutions and Individual learning styles & e-learning solutions. This ensures that the highest quality is achieved when the outputs are delivered by our proficient group of independent trainers and distance learning products.

SPOCE provide accredited training events through an open public programme as well as on-site company training. SPOCE's products and training materials are also licensed to training companies throughout the UK and the World for delivery of accredited Best Practice training. Licensees include companies in Australia, Denmark, Italy, Poland, Singapore and South Africa.