Martin is a Special and Inclusive Education Specialist at Kenya’s Ministry of Education. He helps develop and administer guidelines for inclusive education teacher training and implementation in Kenya’s schools.

At the time of his Fellowship, Martin was a Lecturer at the Kenya Institute for Special Education (KISE) with international experience. In that role, he trained teachers and other professionals in special and inclusive education and Kenyan Sign Language, and conducted academic research.

Over the last 20 years Martin has served as a teacher in elementary school, school for the Deaf, and higher education. He also has extensive international educational experience. He studied for a Masters in Special and Inclusive Education on an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship at the University of Roehampton in the United Kingdom; the University of Oslo in Norway and Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.

Martin has also authored internationally acclaimed publications on inclusive education, communication for Deaf learners, non-formal education, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). He also serves on the National Technical Committee on Digital Literacy Program overseen by the Kenyan Ministries of Education and ICT.

As a veteran teacher, Martin is committed to the importance of the “train the trainer” model and is passionate about building teachers’ capacity and changing attitudes towards disability through training and mentorship. His enthusiasm is reflected in the many groundbreaking projects which he has led, including his Professional Fellows project, which trained KISE lecturers and schoolteachers in universal design for learning. Martin’s project received a prestigious independent grant from the UNESCO East Africa Regional Office.

In his current role at the Ministry of Education, Martin plays a leading role in designing and implementing new projects that prepare youth with disabilities for employment once they finish school. He is currently leading an inclusive employment project between the Ministry of Education and the United Disabled Persons of Kenya (UDPK) and is heavily involved in mentoring teachers and Educational Assessment and Resource Centre (EARC) Officers to ensure that universal design is applied in all areas of education.

Martin pursued his Fellowship at the North Dakota Center for Persons with Disabilities (NDCPD) at Minot State University under the supervision of Dr. Evan Borisinkoff.

Click here to read more about Martin’s post-Fellowship achievements in advancing inclusive education.