Ministry Of Education

Principal Secretary-Vocational & Technical Training

Dr. Dinah J.C. Mwinzi, MBS

Dr. Dinah Mwinzi is an educationist, enterprise, youth, gender and public policy practitioner with more than twenty five years’ experience across higher education, administrative levels of Government and development sectors.  She is also a certified business mentoring, ICT, knowledge society and e-learning specialist. In her professional career, she is the founding Director of the Department of Vocational Education and Training (DVET), Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (Formerly in Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports).

She holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Education and a Master of Philosophy from Moi University, a Bachelor of Education from Kenyatta University.  Also a Graduate Diploma in Leadership Development in ICT and the Knowledge Society, from Dublin City University, Ireland.  Dr. Mwinzi has been a recipient of the prestigious DAAD Scholarship from the German Government and several research grants from other organizations.

Her recent publications include two books; Substance Abuse and its Impact on Students in Kenyan Universities: Towards Developing Policy Guidelines for Prevention Education Strategies, VDM, 2010. ISNB, 978-3-639-25073-2. The Role of women in African Traditional Religious Rites: A Case of the Keiyo of Kenya, VDM, 2010. ISNB, 978-3-639-1657-9.

Two Chapters in 2 scholarly books , “Access to and Retention of Early School Leavers in Basic Technical Education in Kenya” , in  The Burden of Educational Exclusion: Understanding and Challenging Early School Leaving in Africa By Zeelen,J, Van der Linden,J Nampota,D. and Ngabirano,M, (Eds.) Sense Publishers, 2010 and “The impact of cost sharing policy on University Students Living conditions in Kenya Public Universities: The case of Nairobi and Moi Universities”, in African Universities in the twenty-first Century: Liberalization and Internationalization Vol.1 Zeleza P.T and A. Olukoshi (Eds.), CODESRIA in the twenty-first century: Liberalization and Internationalization Vol.I, UNISA press, 2004.

She has published three articles “Motivational Factors For Substance Abuse Among Secondary School and University Students in Kenya: The Way Forward” International Journal of Asian Social Science 2(9):1548-1563 - Online ISSN: 2224-4441 Print ISSN:2226–5139 Journal homepage: http://www.aessweb.com/journal-detail.php?id=5007  “The Challenges Faced by University Refugee Students in Kenya,” Maarifa Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences Vol.2 No.2 2007. “Learning of Science and Mathematics among Female Students in Secondary Schools in Economically Disadvantaged Areas in Kenya: Challenges and Prospects” Sauti Standford Journal of African Studies Spring, 2006.

Her passion “relevant and harmonized Technical and Vocational Skills Development to build a better Kenya”.

Director General

Mrs Leah Rotich, Director General

          Prof. Collette Akoth Suda: Personal Profile

Prof. Collette A. Suda, PhD, FKNAS, CBS, is the Principal Secretary, State Department for University Education, Ministry of Education, Republic of Kenya. She is the former Secretary for Gender and Social Development, Ministry of Gender, Children and social Development. Previously, she was the Director, Institute of African Studies and Director, Board of Common Undergraduate Courses, University of Nairobi. She also served as a member of the National Commission on Gender and Development and a member of the Advisory Board of the Women Enterprise Fund, among others.

Prof. Suda is a full Professor of Sociology at the Institute of African Studies. She is a Fellow of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences (FKNAS). She has served as an external examiner at Moi University, Maseno University and the University of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.

Prof. Suda has extensive research experience as principal investigator in the areas of gender, family studies, social change and sustainable rural development. She has published widely in international scholarly and peer refereed journals and co-authored a book entitled “Street Children in Kenya: Voices of Children in search of a childhood, Westport Connecticut: Bergin and Garvey, 2000”. She has also contributed several book chapters.

On October 4th, 2007, at the University of Nairobi, Prof. Suda delivered her inaugural lecture entitled “Formal monogamy and informal polygyny in Parallel: African Family Traditions in Transition”.

SAMPLES OF PUBLICATIONS IN PEER REFEREED JOURNALS

1990 - Agricultural Development Policies and Institutional

Support Systems in Post ‑ Colonial Kenya and Tanzania. Journal of Eastern African Research and Development. Vol. 20: pp. 104‑126. Published by Gideon S. Were Press, Nairobi, Kenya. ISSN 0251-0405.

1992 - The Underlying Assumptions of the Dependency

Perspective, the World System Theory and the Modes of Production Approach: Some Disjunctures in Thinking Globally and Acting Locally, Journal of Eastern African Research and Development Vol. 22; pp. 33‑48. Published by Gideon S. Were Press, Nairobi, Kenya. ISSN 0251-0405.

3. Towards an Understanding of Smallholder Agriculture

in Western Kenya: An Analysis of the Factors Influencing Crop Production, Discovery and Innovation, 4 (4): 15‑23. A Publication of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS) and the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), Nairobi, Kenya, ISSN 1015-079X.

1993- The Impact of Changing Family Structures on Nairobi

Children African Study Monographs, 14(2): pp. 109 - 121. Published by the Centre for African Area Studies, Kyoto University, Japan. ISSN 0285-1601.

1996 - The Centrality of Women in the Moral Teachings in

African Society. Nordic Journal of African Studies, 5(2) pp. 71-83. Published by the Nordic Association of African Studies, Uppsala and Printed in Helsinki by the Helsinki University Press, Finland. ISSN 1235-4481.

1997 -Street Children in Nairobi and the African Cultural Ideology of Kin-based Support System: Change and Challenge. Child Abuse Review Vol. 6. A Journal of the British Association for the Study and Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect. Published by John Wiley and Sons, Ltd, UK, Child Abuse Review Vol. 6. pp: 199-217. ISSN 0952 - 9136.

2000- Gender, Culture and Environmental Conservation in Western Kenya: Contextualizing community Participation and the Choice of Techniques: Nordic

Journal of African Studies. Vol.9 No. 1 pp. 31 - 48 A Publication of the Nordic Association of African Studies. ISSN 1235-4481.

2001 The Invisible Child Worker in Kenya: The Intersection

of Poverty, Legislation and Culture. Nordic Journal of African Studies. Vol. 10 No. 2 pp. 163-175 - A Publication of the Nordic Association of African Studies. ISSN 1235-4481.

2002 - Gender Disparities in the Kenyan Labour Market: Implications for Poverty Reduction. Nordic Journal of African Studies. Vol. 11:3, pp. 301–321. ISSN 1235–4481 2003

10. Traditional Mechanisms of Conflict Resolution in Isiolo District, Eastern Kenya: Implications for Rural Poverty. International Journal of Contemporary Sociology, Volume 40 .No.2, October2003, pp. 281-294.