THE PRESIDENT’S AWARD-KENYA
Background
The President’s Award-Kenya (PA-K) is an exciting self-development programme available
to all young people countrywide equipping them with positive life skills to make a difference
for themselves, their communities, country and the world .It was launched in 1966 by the
Founding Father of the nation, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta. The Award is a member of the Duke of
Edinburgh’s International Award Association, which oversees the Award Programme for
young people in over one hundred and twenty countries. His Royal Highness, Prince Philip
founded the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in 1956.
Our Vision
“To be the leading Award Scheme of choice for young people by 2015”
Our Mission
“The President’s Award-Kenya exists to develop and deliver quality experiential activities
that impart positive life skills and ethical values to young people for a better society”
The Award
The Award concept is one of individual challenge. It presents to young people a balanced,
non-competitive programme of voluntary activities which encourage personal discovery and
growth, perseverance, responsibility to themselves and service to their community.
The Award programme is open to all young people between the ages of 14 and 25,
irrespective of gender, creed, race or physical status. It also has trained adult volunteer
helpers who inspire and support the young people in their pursuance of the programme
activities.
The Award Levels
There are three levels through which the participants are expected to undertake the sections
outlined below. These are Bronze, Silver and Gold. The duration taken per section increase
with the levels. The Gold Award is annually presented to the achievers by His Excellency the
President at State House Nairobi.
The Award Programme
The Award has four programme sections which help impart positive life skills to the young
people:
Service programme: It gives participants a sense of responsibility to each other and
the community, enabling them to become better citizens through undertaking
voluntary activities. It also inculcates virtue of good time management when they are
still young.
Skills programme: Programme offers great opportunity for talent discovery and
exploitation. It encourages development of personal interest and practical skills which
improves on their employability by learning vocational skills.
Physical Recreation: Participation in the activities helps the young people to develop
healthy lifestyle habits, enhance their self-esteem and attain high levels of discipline.
Adventurous journey: Encourages a spirit of adventure and discovery, better
foundation for endurance, leadership skills, teamwork spirit and positive use of their
leisure time.
Residential projects: This is an additional requirement for participants pursuing the
Gold level. During residential projects, the participants drawn from diverse
background stay together for five days to achieve common objective. Participants who
are still at Bronze or silver Level may also join their Gold colleagues but their
participation is recorded under service section of the Programme. The activities
conducted during residential trainings are crosscutting and include but not limited to
the following:
• Young People and Health :( HIV/AIDS, Drugs and Substance Abuse
Advocacy)
• Environmental conservation like tree planting, cleanup campaigns and
conservation of water systems e.g. dams.
• Civic responsibility and Leadership trainings
• Constructions work (classrooms, libraries, perimeter fence, water points)
• Disaster management (First Aid and Fire fighting skills training)
Impact of the Award to Date
The impact is a culmination of participants’ engagement in the above programmes and levels.
So far over 150,000 young people have directly benefited through the programme and many
more thousands have benefited from the activities. As a result, some now in their adult lives
are actively engaged in the socio-economic and political development of our country.
To date the participation level stands at over 51,000.
