1. Summary

Clubs and societies in Kenyan TVET institutions, such as ICT, Ajira, business, engineering and Red Cross clubs, build the communication, leadership, digital and civic skills that employers say they want. Yet this learning is rarely recorded in a form that employers trust or that qualification bodies recognise. This proposal tests whether a learner-owned, endorsed and verifiable digital record of club participation, delivered through a Club Information Management System (CIMS), improves trainees' employment-related outcomes compared with the current practice of informal or paper-based records.

The study will pilot CIMS in about 10 TVET institutions and compare outcomes with about 10 matched institutions that do not use it. It will combine outcome data from trainees with interviews and surveys of employers, patrons and trainers, and it will assess whether the system is workable, trusted and compliant with the Data Protection Act, 2019.

2. Background and Problem Statement

2.1 Background

Co-curricular clubs have long served as centres for developing talent among students and young people, helping them grow socially, economically and as responsible citizens. As Kenya pursues its Vision 2030 goals, there is a growing need for citizens who are equipped, ethical and ready for work. The Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) and Competency-Based Education and Training (CBET) in TVET were designed to align learning with employer and industry expectations, by assessing what learners can actually do.

2.2 The problem

Club participation is a rich source of competencies, but it is poorly tracked. Three gaps stand out:

• Recording gap. Existing systems are built for whole groups rather than for tracking individual mastery, so a trainee's contribution is usually captured, if at all, in a patron's notebook or a certificate of participation.
• Trust gap. Self-reported or unverified records carry little weight with employers, and recognition by employers and stakeholders remains weak.
• Standards gap. Competency standards and taxonomies for co-curricular learning are incomplete, so club activity is not linked to the competencies the curriculum values.

As a result, trainees who gain valuable experience cannot easily prove it, and institutions and policymakers have little data on what clubs achieve. A system that records evidence, has it endorsed by a second party, and lets learners control who sees it could close this gap. However, it is not yet known whether such a system works in Kenyan TVET conditions of limited connectivity and overloaded staff, or whether employers will use it. This study provides that evidence before any national investment.

3. Research Question

Sub-questions

1. Outcomes: Do trainees using CIMS secure more interviews, internships and job offers within six months of completing their course than comparable trainees who do not?
2. Employer trust: Do employers regard CIMS records as credible, and does this change how they shortlist or select candidates?
3. Credibility of evidence: What share of recorded activities are endorsed by a second party, and how accurate are the records when audited?
4. Feasibility: Can trainees and patrons use CIMS in low-connectivity settings without unsustainable workload?
5. Competency mapping: Can club activities be mapped consistently to CBET units and core competencies using a simple template library?
6. Privacy and equity: Does the system comply with the Data Protection Act, 2019, and does it benefit trainees equitably across gender, location and club type?

4. Objectives and Hypotheses

4.1 Main objective

To evaluate the effect and feasibility of a verifiable digital record of club participation on the employability of TVET trainees in Kenya.

4.2 Specific objectives

1. Estimate the effect of CIMS on interviews, internship placement and job offers.
2. Describe employers' views of the credibility and usefulness of CIMS records.
3. Measure the endorsement rate and accuracy of records.
4. Assess usability, workload and connectivity constraints for trainees and patrons.
5. Develop and test a library of pre-mapped activity templates linked to CBET units and CBC competencies.
6. Evaluate data protection compliance and equity of benefit.

4.3 Hypotheses

5. Review of Related Work

This section will be expanded after a full literature search. The proposal builds on four areas:

• Competency-based education in Kenya. The KICD Basic Education Curriculum Framework and the TVET CDACC competence-based curriculum guidance set out the competencies and units that co-curricular evidence should map to.
• Qualifications and recognition. The Kenya National Qualifications Framework (KNQA) governs recognition of learning, which determines whether a co-curricular credential can carry formal weight.
• Digital credentials. Open Badges and W3C Verifiable Credentials are established standards for portable, tamper-evident records, and offer a technical basis for a learner-owned record.
• Data protection. The Data Protection Act, 2019 sets the legal duties for consent, access control and data minimisation that any such system must meet.

Knowledge gap. Literature to be confirmed in the full search should test whether co-curricular participation is linked to employability, and whether verifiable records change employer decisions in a TVET setting in Kenya. This study addresses the second question directly.

6. Methodology

6.1 Design

A mixed-methods, quasi-experimental pilot evaluation. Institutions that adopt CIMS (the pilot group) will be compared with matched institutions that keep current practice (the comparison group), measured before and after the pilot. Qualitative work will explain why results occur.

6.2 The intervention

CIMS will be limited to the core modules identified in the refined concept:

1. Club registry
2. Participation tracking with QR or mobile check-in
3. Competency evidence and endorsement by a patron or external mentor
4. Learner-controlled digital credentials, shared only with employers by the trainee's choice
5. Aggregate dashboards for institutions and policymakers

Records will be tied to concrete events (for example, a hackathon, a first-aid certification or a leadership term) rather than hours alone, and will use existing learner identifiers where possible.

6.3 Study sites and sampling

• About 10 pilot TVET institutions and about 10 comparison institutions, matched on size, location (urban or rural), connectivity and club activity.
• Institutions selected purposively across several counties to reflect different conditions, then matched.
• Participants: final-year trainees aged 18 and over who belong to a club (target about 600 per group, to be confirmed by power analysis); about 30 patrons or trainers; and about 30 employers or industry representatives, including anchor employers committed before launch.
• Junior Secondary School learners and other minors are excluded from this pilot.

6.4 Outcome measures

6.5 Data collection

• Baseline and follow-up trainee surveys, at the start of the pilot and six months after completion.
• System data from CIMS (participation, endorsements, credential shares), used only with consent.
• Semi-structured interviews and focus groups with patrons, trainers and employers.
• A short employer vignette experiment comparing candidates with verified and unverified club evidence.
• Random audits of a sample of records against witnesses and event documents.

6.6 Data analysis

• Quantitative: difference-in-differences comparison of pilot and comparison groups, with multilevel models to account for trainees nested within institutions; subgroup analysis by gender, location and club type.
• Qualitative: thematic analysis of interviews and focus groups, to explain employer decisions and barriers to use.
• Integration: findings from both strands will be compared to judge whether the numbers and the explanations agree.

6.7 Ethical considerations

• A research licence from the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation (NACOSTI) and approval from an accredited institutional ethics review board before data collection.
• A Data Protection Impact Assessment completed, and registration with the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, before the pilot begins.
• Informed consent from all participants; trainees own their records and control sharing; data minimisation and role-based access controls.
• Participation in the pilot and the study will not affect any trainee's grades or standing.

7. Work Plan

8. Expected Outputs and Significance

• Evidence on whether verifiable co-curricular records improve employability, to inform the Ministry of Education, TVET CDACC, KNQA and KICD.
• A tested library of activity templates mapped to CBET units and CBC competencies.
• A privacy-compliant pilot design that can be scaled, with costs and workload measured.
• A cost and implementation guide for institutions and county governments.
• A final report, a policy brief, and at least one peer-reviewed article.

9. Risks and Limitations

10. Budget Outline

Figures are to be costed once the number of sites and the funder's template are confirmed.

References

These sources were used in the original brief. Check each against the actual document, including dates and titles, before publishing.

• KICD (2017). Basic Education Curriculum Framework. Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development.
• TVET CDACC (2021). Competence-Based Education and Training curriculum development guidance. TVET Curriculum Development, Assessment and Certification Council.
• KNQA (2022). Kenya National Qualifications Framework. Kenya National Qualifications Authority.
• Republic of Kenya (2019). Data Protection Act, 2019.
• United Nations (2015). Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• Kandara Technical and Vocational College (n.d.). Clubs and societies.
• Research note: Impact of Campus, TVET and CBC Clubs and Societies (provided; undated).