Development Pathways is delighted to announce the 2020 winner of the Krystle Kabare scholarship. Peter Muraya is a recent graduate of Kenyatta University and will be pursuing a Master’s in Climate Change Adaptation at the University of Nairobi.
The Krystle Kabare scholarship – which was launched in memory of Krystle Kabare, a much-beloved staff member of Development Pathways – contributes to the educational development of a Kenyan with a disability. Krystle was passionate about disability rights and extending social protection coverage to persons with disabilities, and regularly volunteered for disability-focused services around Nairobi, where she lived. In celebration of her life’s goals, the scholarship covers the tuition fees, study-related charges and living costs associated with pursuing a Master’s at the University of Nairobi, and it is hoped that scholarship winners will be provided with a springboard to drive forward their careers in effecting change in Kenya, while helping to tackle discrimination against people with disabilities.
The 2020 winner, Peter Muraya, impressed interviewers with his history of promoting the rights of youth with disabilities and for his passion for tackling the causes of climate change and its socioeconomic and environmental impacts. Since graduating from his undergraduate degree, Peter has been volunteering in a local community–based organisation that works with rural farmers, and has used his knowledge from his undergraduate studies to sensitise farmers on the issues of climate change and the environment. Whilst Peter had hoped to pursue a Master’s in the future, he explained that, “My ambition to further my education after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Community Development would have monumentally and indefinitely paused. God, through Krystle’s concern for persons with disability, opened a door for my Master’s programme, fully sponsored by Development Pathways.”
One of Peter’s main career goals is to tackle the disproportionate impacts that persons with disabilities are experiencing due to climate change: “The Master’s programme will heighten my knowledge and advocacy skills to enable me to champion the dwindling rights, freedoms, and privileges for persons with disability during a climate crisis and to promote their inclusion in policy formulation. The experience I garnered in my volunteer programmes with local community-based organisations, amalgamated with the knowledge that I will acquire in my Master’s programme and the internship opportunity at Development Pathways will replete my career scope in social policy formulation from a climate change standpoint.”
The 28th September marks three years since Krystle’s untimely passing. It is hoped that this scholarship is a fitting legacy to honour Krystle’s commitment to promoting the rights of persons with disabilities and building an effective and comprehensive social protection system in Kenya. Krystle’s mother, Florence Kabare, stated: “Congratulations to the recipient of the scholarship, Peter Muraya. We wish him all the best. We look forward to meeting him in person. We wish to thank Development Pathways for making the Krystle Kabare Scholarship come to fruition. It is a great honour to my family and in Krystle’s honour. In her remembrance let’s light a candle for Krystle.”
The scholarship is to be given annually and the competition for the next recipient will begin in 2021, we’ll release more information on this at a later date.
Read more like this:
Publication: Social Protection and Disability in Kenya
Blog: Building a Disability-Inclusive Social Protection System for Kenya: Opening remarks
News: In cherished memory of Krystle Kabare
Many thanks to Development Pathways for launching the Krystle Kabare Scholarship which will go a long way to help persons with disabilities to actualize their education dreams and make impacts in their communities and more so on the lives of people with disabilities in Kenya.
Congratulations! to Peter Muraya for being the 2020 winner of this special and precious scholarship.
Thank you for your kind comments Jane.