On Monday, 23rd April 2007, Strathmore University started a three year programme aimed at enhancing leadership skills for head teachers' country wide. The Kshs 26 million programme will be funded by Project Harambee, an initiative which promotes educational programmes in Africa.

The seminar is titled 'Art of Leadership' (AOL). It will address such issues as leadership style and team building skills, reclaiming the virtue system, contemporary challenges facing the head teacher, managing emerging issues, basic hygiene and its impact on the school and its environs, drugs, dropouts, HIV and AIDS, working with parents and financial management, among other relevant topics.

Teachers from around the country will attend the 5-day seminar which will be held when schools are closed. The first seminar ran from Monday, April 23 to Friday 27th April 2007 at the university's campus in Madaraka, Nairobi. 60 head teachers from Narok District and 39 from Nairobi attended

The university is liaising with the District Education Officers to identify and invite attendees. Teachers from Nairobi were invited through the City's Director of Education, said Mr Patrick Kibui, former Principal of Kenya Science Teachers' College and the co-coordinator of the programme.

TEP aims at building the capacity of Kenyan teachers by further equipping them with the skills in effective management while boosting their morale to train prepare young people to be honourable citizens, with good character, morals, and self-discipline.

The university has been offering TEP courses and seminars for the past 4 years. According to Margaret Roche, the Director of IHEDS, a total of 1349 teachers have already been trained under the TEP Programme. Thanks to this new grant from Project Harambee, the number of teachers able to benefit from the Programme will rise significantly

Project Harambee is an initiative celebrating the canonization of Josemaría Escrivá (www.josemariaescriva.info), founder of Opus Dei and the inspiration behind Strathmore University. It is funded by donations from participants at the canonization ceremonies and from many other generous well-wishers.

St Josemaria had a keen sense of justice and charity. He was once asked: "And how can we fight effectively against hunger, injustice, ignorance?"

He replied "We go after them with a force that is holy, supernatural. We try to bring about a world with less poverty, less ignorance, more justice. I will tell you that the first means is prayer, self-sacrifice, which you can do in your work, doing it well. And then, treating all with affection, with a friendship that is loyal, honorable, humane and supernatural. Little by little things will improve – without violence, for violence brings nothing more than disorder and horrors worse than those one sought to avoid."