How it works

Learn about Sponsorship

HBEF supports exceptionally bright students who complete primary school education but are unable to join secondary school due to financial constraints, through the award of education scholarships.

How it works

How it Works

Eligibility Criteria for students

To be eligible for consideration, the applicant student must:

Be a Kenyan citizen .
Have sat for the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (K.C.P.E) in the preceding year in a public primary school school that is recognized as such by the Ministry of Education in Kenya and obtained at least 380 marks.
Be a boy or girl from a poor family.

Interested students should fill and submit the HBEF Scholarship Application Form and provide:

A certified copy of KCPE result slip.
Relevant recommendation letters as outlined in the application form.
Copy of birth certificate.
A copy of Form one-admission letter/joining instructions where available.
Evidence of being an orphan where applicable.

Selection Process

In accordance with HBEF criteria to support only those who are academically talented and needy, those who qualify are considered for sponsorship to join secondary school from January of every year.

Final selection and award of scholarships takes place after the official announcement of the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) results in December every year. A call for scholarship applications is done the first week of January of the following year. Scholarship Application Forms are made availalable at our headquarters in Nairobi, as well as the respective District Education Offices.

Important to note is that, In the Kenyan education system, as children transition from primary to secondary school, entry into the first academic year is delayed because of the National selection process involving admission of the KCPE examination candidates to secondary schools based on their performance. This process is carried out by the Government and takes about three (3) weeks starting in mid-January. As a result, the children report to school in the month of February. Please note that this only happens in the first year of secondary school i.e. Form One (1) with the subsequent academic years (Form 2, 3, 4) beginning in January.

Persons willing to be assigned a child, are normally requested to fill out a HBEF "sponsor commitment pledge form" which includes ones contact details and other information (optional) that may be of interest to the child to whom one will be assigned.

The name and personal details of the child assigned to a sponsor are then communicated once the final selections are made by the HBEF board, during the month of February.

Successful applicants are awarded 4-year education scholarships, and the beneficiaries are expected to maintain good academic performance.

Costings and Payments

The average cost of sending a child who meets HBEF criteria to the regular public boarding secondary school in Kenya is equivalent to about 650 USD per year (or 55 USD per month) although the exact foreign currency may differ slightly depending on the exchange rate.

With regard to payment arrangements, HBEF normally requests sponsors who wish to be assigned specific children to pay the amount for the whole year by 31 October of the preceding year, and renew these payments at the same time in the following three years. This arrangement helps HBEF to plan properly for the coverage of a particular child's education and helps simplify administrative procedures while at the same time helping we save on costly bank charges, incurred each time an individual donation comes in. HBEF requires that all this information be included in the “commitment pledge” form submitted by the prospective sponsor.

Transferring money to HBEF

At the present time the preferred method of receiving donations is online.

Please note that HBEF's US affiliate is Creative Visions Foundation (CVF), a publicly supported 501 (c) (3) organization. CVF has the authority to receive payments on HBEF's behalf. CVF issues acknowledgments and tax receipts for all amounts donated to HBEF in the United States.

Unfortunately, no tax deductible arrangements exist for other countries at the moment

To make contributions online, simply click on the "Donate Today to the Hilde Back Education Fund" button that is displayed on our website. Select the giving option that works best for you then choose or input the amount you would like to contribute. Once you do this, you will be redirected to PayPal to finalize your contribution. It is also possible to set up a monthly automatic giving.

If you wish to make donations using any other method, please contact us.

Secondary Schooling in Kenya

Secondary school education in Kenya takes four years - from Form One to Form Four and the average age of a child at the time of joining secondary school is 14 years. The secondary school academic year in Kenya begins in January and ends in December.

Children hoping to join secondary school have to sit for and pass the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) examination. KCPE is a certificate awarded to students after completing the approved eight-year course in primary education in Kenya and the gateway to high school.