Endana Secondary School, one of the Ol Pejeta’s neighbours and supported schools, will next month become home to the first in-school football stadium in East Africa. The Samuel Eto’o Laikipia Unity Football Academy, School and Environmental Education Centre was designed by PITCH Africa, with construction funded by Samuel Eto’o Private Foundation, Cameron O’Reilly Family, Guernsey Overseas Aid, Segera Ranch, Ol Jogi and Ol Pejeta Conservancies. The Zeitz Foundation provided financial support and coordinated and managed development of the infrastructure on site at Endana Secondary School.
This unique school has experienced rapid development during the past year. There is a new girls’ dormitory with the capacity of housing 150 students and a five-acre conservation agriculture plot. The boys’ dormitory has been expanded, and a canteen with a sitting capacity of 300 has been built. However, the most striking of these additions is the Academy building with its unique architecture, rainwater capture and storage ability for two million litres, and its multi-functional nature. The unique architecture of the building houses six classrooms, school administration rooms and an environmental education centre.
Internationally renowned footballer Samuel Eto’o founded the Eto’o Academy, which was launched on August 13th 2014 and will officially open in February 2015. The school also serves as the major demonstration and training site for rainwater harvesting, conservation agriculture and reforestation in the region. The Academy and secondary school incorporate an Environmental Education and Outreach Center and also serves as the headquarters for the Laikipia Unity League/LUC and the hub for environmental outreach activities.
Given the school’s new position as a role model for education and extra curricular activities, and with such vast recent infrastructural changes, it was decided that a five-year strategic plan should be developed. Two educational experts, Kate Angel and Hellen Spence from Canada, facilitated a strategic planning workshop involving the board of management, the Zeitz Foundation, Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Ol Jogi Ranch, Laikipia Wildlife Forum and Segera Mission Hospital as development partners for a stakeholder’s workshop.
The need for the new strategic plan was to align the “new” school with its responsibility to serve the students and the Laikipia community.