Kenyan diaspora Professor Dr Wanja Ogongi summer experience in Kenya

Dr. Wanja Ogongi, Assistant Professor of Social Work at Millersville University, spent the
summer in her native country of Kenya engaged in several scholarship activities. As the main
reason for her travel, Ogongi developed curricula for new social work programs at Chuka
University in Kenya, as part of the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program (CADFP).
This is the first fellowship Ogongi has earned through the program.

Ogongi worked in partnership with Dr. Christopher Kiboro who hosted her at Chuka University
in Kenya. They collaboratively applied for the Carnegie Fellowship and were awarded this grant
that allowed them to co-develop curricula for new Baccalaureate and Master programs in Social
Work at Chuka University.

Prior to embarking on this project, Ogongi established relationships and gathered preliminary
data from social work educators in Kenya in collaboration with the Association of Social Work
Educators in Kenya (ASWEK). Ogongi organized and participated in several virtual workshops
with social work educators from the East African region to gather data on perceived gaps in
social work education in the region.

Once in Kenya, Ogongi organized and served as a panelist on a session titled “The Making of a
Culturally Relevant Social Work Curriculum in Kenya”, an event that was well attended and
attracted many social work educators and practitioners from all over the country. This discussion
generated valuable debate that added a lot of value to the curriculum development and review
process.

As a result of the above activities, Dr. Ogongi and her host successfully developed and delivered
a robust and visionary Baccalaureate and Masters curricula in social work that aligns with the
requirements of the Kenya Commission of University Education (CUE) Accreditation Standards
to the Chuka University administration and senate. The curriculum has incorporated current
societal needs and interests and will give Chuka University a competitive edge once it is
implemented in 2022. Ogongi also donated several textbooks as starter resources for the faculty
and students of these two new programs. Drs. Ogongi and Kiboro will continue to work together
to successfully launch the social work program and device mechanisms for its sustainability.
In addition to curricula development, Ogongi mentored graduate students and is currently
serving as a theses supervisor for two Masters level students at Chuka University. Ogongi will
continue to support these two students and anticipates that this will be an ongoing engagement
that will continue until the students graduate.

During her summer in Kenya, Ogongi also established relationships with social work educators
from several other institutions. She delivered a public lecture at the Technical University of
Kenya titled “Reflections in Social Work Field Education and Supervision”, and initiated
research collaborations with several other social work educators.

Although she has returned to the states Ogongi will continue to collaborate with Kenyan social
work educators to enhance and transform the fast-growing profession of social work. Ogongi is
co-chairing an Inaugural International Social Work Conference hosted by the Association of
Social Work Educators in Kenya which will be held in Kenya in May 2022. Ogongi states “This

is the first international social work conference in Kenya, and I’m honored to co-chair and
represent the Millersville School of Social Work in it. My participation in the CADFP fellowship
and the opportunities that have come with it will not only benefit me, but also my students and
Millersville University at large.”

About the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program

CADFP, now in its seventh year, is designed to increase Africa’s brain circulation, build capacity
at the host institutions, and develop long-term, mutually beneficial collaborations between
universities in Africa and universities in the United States and Canada. It is funded by Carnegie
Corporation of New York and managed by the Institute of International Education (IIE) in
collaboration with United States International University-Africa (USIU-Africa) in Nairobi,
Kenya, which coordinates the activities of the Advisory Council. A total of 527 African Diaspora
Fellowships have been awarded for scholars to travel to Africa since the program’s start in 2013.

Kenyan Diaspora Professor Dr Wanja Ogongi summer experience in Kenya