Jasiri Teen Girls Bootcamp - Kenya

Introduction

In the first quarter, Jasiri proved that girls can run their own clubs. Between April and September 2026, the task was to hold that structure together through a full school term and into the next, while giving the girls the skills they asked for: staying safe online and finding information they can trust.

Our 10 peer mentors carried weekly sessions across all five Jasiri Clubs in rural Nyamira County. Health and Water Foundation staff provided training, materials and follow-up, and stepped back wherever the girls could lead.

Achievements (April to September 2026)

• Clubs held steady: All five clubs met through Term 2 and into Term 3, holding 78 sessions on the Jasiri Club Toolkit curriculum: leadership, sexual and reproductive health and rights, digital literacy and advocacy. Peer mentors led 52 of these sessions on their own.
• Digital literacy intensive: In June, with our local tech hub partner, we ran an intensive workshop on online safety and basic research skills for 45 girls. Sessions covered privacy settings, spotting false information, recognising and reporting online harassment, and using search tools for schoolwork.
• Back-to-school kits: Our targeted campaign delivered 50 kits of sanitary supplies and stationery to club members at the start of Term 2, reaching the girls with the greatest need first.
• Tracking system live: Our digital tracking system went live in May and now records attendance, retention and impact stories for 118 members across all five schools.
• Mid-year symposium: On 14 August, during the school holiday, 85 girls from the five clubs met in Nyamira with 20 teachers and parents. Peer mentors chaired the panels, and the girls presented their own action plans on keeping classmates in school and speaking out against early marriage.
• Champions for Girls forums: Three community forums reached 140 parents, chiefs and church leaders on keeping girls in school and ending early marriage.

Impact and Outreach

• Active members: 118 girls across five clubs, up from just over 100 in the first quarter.
• Retention: 92 per cent of members who started the year are still attending.
• Peer leadership: Our 10 mentors have facilitated 64 sessions independently since January.
• Progress to target: 118 of the 150 girls this project set out to reach.
• School administrators report that club members take a more visible part in school life, including the student council, debates and drama festivals.

A Girl's Voice

Bosibori, 16, joined her school's Jasiri Club in 2025 and trained as a peer mentor at the end of that year. This year she has run weekly sessions for 24 younger girls without a staff member in the room. At the August symposium she chaired the panel on early marriage in front of parents and teachers, the first time she had spoken to adults in public. Two girls in her club who had stopped attending came back after she visited their homes with a teacher.

Name changed to protect her privacy.

Challenges

• Funding gap: Donations this period covered about 40 per cent of planned costs. We protected weekly sessions, mentor support and the symposium, and delayed new learning materials for incoming members.
• Mentor transition: Four of our 10 peer mentors complete their final school year in 2026. Their replacements must be trained before they leave, or the clubs lose their strongest leaders.
• Data collection: Digital tracking depends on teachers' time and access to a phone or computer at school, so some records still arrive on paper and late.

Next Steps (October to December 2026)

• Recruit and train eight new peer mentors so leadership passes on before the 2027 school year.
• Hold a holiday Jasiri Bootcamp in December for 32 new girls, completing our target of 150.
• Publish the first full-year results from the tracking system in our annual report.
• Secure at least one corporate partner for 2027 back-to-school kits and the next symposium.

Thank You

Every Jasiri session that runs is proof that a girl in rural Nyamira can lead, speak up and stay in school. Thank you for making that possible. The clubs now run on the girls' own energy; what they still need from us is materials, training and transport to bring them together.

• USD 10 funds training materials for two girls.
• USD 166 covers the full programme for one girl.
• USD 1,000 funds training materials and curriculum development for a new cohort.

Donors in Kenya can give through M-Pesa Paybill 891300, Account GG66673.

Thank you for believing in the girls of Nyamira County.