Kenya film Commission (KFC) has graduated 51 prison officers out of the Training of Trainers program for wardens from Kenya Prisons launched at the Kamiti Maximum Prison back in February 2020 before the COVID pandemic that necessitated the postponement of the same.

The training, an eleven unit- intensive and total immersion course curriculum and mode of delivery was a blend of practical, hands-on training delivered through a blend of theory and project-based work- from faculty at the Kenya Film School over a three weeks period.

“I must commend all the graduates and thank the Commissioner for the kind gesture of allowing you to be out of office for this training. We are confident that the content that will originate from the trainees will promote a message of peace, unity, cohesiveness and non-violence through filmmaking”, CS Joe Mucheru noted.
The long-term objective of the TOT program is to offer a crash program or master classes to inmates so that they have a fall-back plan that will empower them economically after serving their terms.

Kenya Film Commission CEO, Mr. Timothy Owase is confident that after skills are developed amongst the staffers and consequently to the inmates interested in film, there shall be super productions and content that will be marketed commercially to strengthen the local film industry. “The audio visual industry is very pertinent to the economy and has the potential to create many jobs for our youth at all levels”, noted Owase.
“This training is a welcome initiative and we believe there will be great stories coming from my officers in Nairobi as well as the other facilities outside Nairobi, noted Mr. Wycliffe Ogallo, the Commissioner General of Prisons who was among the guests.

“Filmmaking is big business indeed. It remains our responsibility therefore, to make sure every person in the society at whatever level has been empowered to partake film making and join the creative economy’, noted CS Joe Mucheru.
The 51 wardens were drawn from Nairobi Area correctional facilities that include; Kamiti Maximum Security Prison, Kamiti Medium Prison Kamiti Youth Correction and Training Centre, Kamae Girls Borstal Institution, Nairobi Industrial Maximum Prison, Nairobi Industrial Medium Prison, Jamhuri Short Sentence Prison, Langata Women Maximum Security Prison and Nairobi West Prison.

The objective of KFC mentorship programme is to plug into the national governments goal of creating employment through 1.3 million jobs every year while creating partnerships with county governments to establish at least one industry in every county. The initiative demonstrates KFC’s commitment to focus on communities’ societal experience and provide social solutions from a community perspective while sparking creativity in people of all ages with limited income or resources confined in prisons.

At the heart of the Commission, is the strategic intention to grow the sustainability of the film industry through strengthening existing institutional frameworks and increasing the production of films in Kenya through the active involvement of stakeholders across the board.