Little Rock Early Childhood Development Centre

Latest Updates

As the construction of their new centre gets underway Little Rock have launched their Buy a Brick Campaign.  Bricks costs just £20 each and 100% of brick sales will go directly to Little Rock.  Click here to Buy a Brick!

Read the latest news articles about Little Rock Work:

About Little Rock

Kibera, situated in Nairobi, is one of Africa’s largest slums and home to Little Rock Inclusive Early Childhood Development Centre. Primary School is available free in Kenya, but the curriculum requires basic skills that most children in Kibera simply do not have. Most children in Kibera live in homes without proper sanitation and electricity, their parents are busy trying to make ends meet and do not have the resources to concentrate on their children’s early education.

It is here that Lilly Oyare took the initiative and founded Little Rock, an Early Childhood Development Centre providing inclusive education for children in Kibera. Lilly believed it to be deeply unfair that children from slums like Kibera are already dis-advantaged when they start primary school. She wanted them to be able to ‘have the same chance of succeeding at school’ as her own children who had attended private pre-schools.

Little Rock – What We Do on Flickr.

Established in 2003, Little Rock currently has 240 children from the ages of 0-8 attending the Early Childhood Programme. Approximately 1/3 of the children are disabled. Little Rock is dedicated to creating an inclusive and empowering education environment where all children work and play together.

But Little Rock is more than just a school:

• The project has established a parents’ support group to help the families of disabled children come to terms with their child’s disability. It also supports families to access healthcare and employment opportunities.
• The support Little Rock provides to children and families does not end once they graduate from the Early Childhood School. They continue to use the Little Rock library, receive after school tutoring and participate in sports teams and creative activities.

The centre was initially staffed by volunteers but now has 20 staff plus 16 parents in regular support roles who receive an allowance. It started in a single rented room with 5 students. Within 1 month, 100 students had been registered. Today, Little Rock works with 500 children and their families, across all its services.

AbleChildAfrica has been partners with Little Rock since 2006. We provide the centre with financial support, specialist equipment as well as capacity building through mentoring, training and support of Little Rock’s Director and Staff. We also provide Governance support to the Trustees.

Read some of Little Rock’s case studies here.

For more information visit Little Rock’s website.

To support our work with Little Rock, please donate by clicking here or text ‘ROCK15‘ and the amount you want to donate (e.g. £2, £5, £10) to 70070.

Little Rock Inclusive Childhood Development Centre – Building Project on Flickr.

<< back to Our Partners