1000 Kibera slum girls empowered to excel

“The harder we try, the higher we fly” Our girls were able to make presentations at the United Nations Office in Nairobi, thanks to your generous donations. Who would have imagined?

"I will remember this for the rest of my life, I cannot imagine that I just made a presentation at the United Nations," that was Maryanne a 15 year old girl living in Kibera Slums. She was one of the girls who represented other girls at the United Nations for the Urban Thinkers Campus, hosted by Polycom Development Project.

This is a critical space where different urban actor are brought together under UN Habitat's World Urban Campaign to strategize and develop structures that can lead us to the City We Need. Polycom for the second time around created this platform that was attended by 185 people, among them the Women, Elderly, the youth, religious leaders, pressure groups, activists, government representatives, the United Nations, Civil society organizations, the academia and media. Our focus was Safety - The City We Need is Safe (http://www.worldurbancampaign.org/events/wamama-tunauwezo-2).

With the Sustainable Development Goals principle of Leave no one behind, Polycom Development Project made sure that the adolescent girls participated in the process of making our cities safe for everyone.The girls shared how they are harassed sexually in public and private spaces, they shared how they are punished by the teachers for delaying during breaks when the toilets they have for girls are inadequate and therefore girls must queue for longer. The girls shocked the actors who thought they understood issues that affect girls. The girls were articulate, they shared how they want to be part of the implementation of the Sustainable Developement Goals so that their issues are factored in by planners.

The girls continue to meet in the office on Saturdays for the girls forums, they feel they are very empowered now to identify and to package their presentations to duty bearers. Their lobby is for the duty bearers to engage with them while designing programs aimed and empowering them.

“I can’t believe this just happened, we would like to come to Kibera, to meet these girls in their set up, we can never change anything if we do not come down to the ground,” remarked Christine Auclair – the World Urban Campaign Manager

CONCULSION

Most girls now speak out on matters that affect them, they know where to go for help and also that it is not their fault that bad things happen to them.

Links:

• Urban Thinkers Campus Report 2017

House chores in my home are too many that I have no time to do my homework.. Mary wrote this down as the girls reflected on the things that hinder them from doing well in school.

She lives with her parents and 6 siblings in a small shantie in Kibera Slums where the mother must leave very early in the morning to the market to buy groceries to sell. Mary is left behind to do everything in the house, wash dishes, sweep the floor, fetch water and prepare her other siblings to school before she leaves. She is a candidate with so much school work but there is not time. She must work very hard in school to pass her examination so that she can attract post primary school scholarship since her poor parents cannot afford to pay her school fees. She is one of the 298 girls who attended the 2017 candidate forum organized by Polycom Development Project to help the girls to identify impediments to their academic excellence. The girls gathered in an open hall in Kibera Slums.

There are many girls like Asiza, some do not have basic things needed for girls to be in school like school uniform and books. Polycom have created a platform to get these girls mentors, to encourage and help them focus on their education despite the challenges they face.

Asiza and other girls were guided to come up with workable and possible ways of rising beyond these barriers.They were guided to identify their personal barriers, which include challenges at home, in the community, in school and even in class. They are taken through SWOT (Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis before developing their own steps towards breaking these barriers.

The girls are guided to develop SMART Goals based on their scores in various subjects and what they want to work on the get to the set goals

298 girls were matched with 25 mentors, 10 to 13 girls per mentor. The outcomes of these forums were as follows:

• Girls connected to their mentors to walk them through their candidature progess
• Strategies identified to help girls concentrate and improve in their education
• Established collaboration with mentors and other possible institions.

Each of the girls received a packed of pads, they also had refreshments.