The International Budget Partnership Kenya (IPBK) and Kwani Trust would like to announce an essay writing competition for Kenyan secondary school students as part of Equity Week 2017.  Equity Week is an annual IPBK event dedicated to programmed reflections and conversations on national policy relating to the allocation of public resources.  The essay writing competition will invite Form 2 and 3 secondary school students to join the Equity Week conversation in 2017. 

IBP Kenya and Kwani Trust will invite a select number of secondary schools across the country to be part of the competition. The participating schools will submit a minimum number of essays. We seek essay submissions that address issues around ‘what is fair’ in the context of public resource allocation. The essays will be between 1000-1500 words. The deadline for submission of essays is June 26^th 2017.  

Thereafter, a shortlist of participants will be announced in August 2017 with finalists to be decided in October 2017. The top three essayists will be invited for Equity Week 2017 in October, where they will present their essays and receive their prizes. Prizes will be paid fees for the 2018 school year.

The essays should respond to the following question:

After the elections in August 2017, what three things can Kenyan leaders do to make Kenya a fairer or more equitable society?

The essay should demonstrate an understanding of ‘what is fair’ in the context of public resource allocation and distribution and the role of government (if any) in addressing equity. Essays will be judged on originality, specificity, adherence to the theme, and the overall quality of writing.  Submissions may be in English or Kiswahili. 

The top ten (10) essays will be posted on the IBPK website.