Leadership Training for Girls in Rural Kenya

We hope you are staying safe and healthy as we all face unprecedented challenges. 

Thanks to your support, we started our year off with lots of exciting activities. We completed the pilot of our new Kakenya’s Dream Health and Leadership training at ten partner schools, and we began the process of gathering feedback from participants, facilitators, and school leadership to make our program even stronger for the next round of training. Then the global health crisis put everything on pause.

In times of uncertainty such as this, I see the best of our community emerge. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for all who have asked, “How can we help?” As one of our most important supporters, I want to tell you how the pandemic has impacted our programs.

Like in many parts of the world, all schools in Kenya are closed until further notice, including our two campuses and the schools where we deliver trainings. The reality of a global health crisis is particularly devastating for vulnerable populations. We are more concerned than ever for the wellbeing of the girls we serve, as they will be more susceptible while at home to female genital mutilation, teen pregnancy, and early marriages. Schools often provide them with physical safety as well as nutrition.

Another major threat we currently see is the spread of misinformation and knowledge gaps. Most parents in our region are illiterate, and few have access to the internet. My team and I are actively looking for ways to continue to support students and their families as we navigate this difficult time. Aside from your amazing financial support, if you are looking for ways to help, here are some ideas:

• Share our work: While we are physically distanced, we can still connect socially. Continue to spread the word about Kakenya’s Dream and share our work with others who care about educating and empowering vulnerable girls.
• Create a fundraiser: Visit our website to learn how you can create your own fundraiser or host a virtual party for Kakenya’s Dream.
• Communicate: Although our staff is working remotely, we are still available and want to hear from you, our Kakenya’s Dream family.

Please remember: YOU make our work possible. Thank you for standing with us in good times and these difficult times.

We will get through this together and continue to build a better world for everyone.

In solidarity,

Kakenya

Links:

• Our website

What a year! As 2019 comes to a close, we want to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all you have helped us accomplish this year. Thanks to you, we have improved our Health and Leadership Training program this year and launched a new model that is creating lasting change. On behalf of all of the students in our training program, we are so grateful for your support.

As you may know from our recent updates, our trainers are teaching students during weekly after-school meetings at 10 schools throughout our region. This new model has allowed us to dig deeper into our curriculum with the same students every week over the past 6 months. In November, we held our first graduation to celebrate the students who have now completed our trainings. To help us commemorate the students’ success, we hosted Mercy Nzioki from the Population Council, who spoke about the importance of ending gender based violence and the value of our Health and Leadership trainings. The Chief of our community also attended to congratulate the students and join in the celebrations. 

After the graduation, we held a meeting with our trainers to discuss the lessons learned, including successes and experiences they had with the students during the semester. We are thrilled to announce that our new model is achieving our hopes of a stronger impact on the students and, we are excited to continue to work with our trainers to build our trainings’ impact. 

In 2019, we reached 1,661 students through our Health and Leadership Training program. In 2020, we look forward to training 2,000 more. We could not do it without you! Thank you again for your wonderful support. Our team, and especially these students, are truly grateful for change you are making possible.

Greetings from Enoosaen!

Thank you so much for your continued support for our Health and Leadership Training program. With your help, we are improving our training model and strengthening our impact for students across rural Kenya. 

As you may recall from our last update, we launched our new Health and Leadership training model over the summer at 10 schools in our region. While in the past we delivered our curriculum in two-day monthly trainings for different clusters of schools, we are now providing it as a weekly after-school club. This format allows us to go deeper into the topics with the same students on a regular basis, and we are excited to see the results. We will also be working with parents, teachers, and community members to ensure that students are supported as they learn about their health and rights. 

Transitioning to this model also allows us to better capture feedback from the students and facilitators. At Kakenya’s Dream, we know there is always room to grow and improve. So, after this pilot phase is completed in January, we will regroup to revise our curriculum and make any necessary changes based on what we learn from the trainers and students’ evaluations. We know this will make our program even stronger as we expand to new schools in 2020 and beyond.

Thank you for joining us on this journey of improving our model and bringing transformational trainings to at-risk youth in rural Kenya. We look forward to sharing more updates as the pilot continues! 

Links:

• Our Website

Greetings from Enoosaen,

Thank you for supporting our Health and Leadership Training program! With your help, we continue to grow our program to provide life-changing training to at-risk youth in rural Kenya.

In December of 2018, we announced that we would begin a new Health and Leadership Training model in 2019 that would enhance our program and create lasting change in the lives of the students we work with. Today, we are excited to say that we have officially launched this model at 10 schools in our region. There are currently 20 trainers, 2 at each school, training a total of 590 boys and 722 girls. As part of this new model, they hold trainings twice a week at each school, which gives our trainers more time with the students to discuss the curriculum in depth.

Before the launch of the model, several stakeholders met to discuss its launch and ensure that all went smoothly when it came time to bring our training to the 10 campuses. Some of the stakeholders in attendance were the Chief of Enoosaen, a representative from the Health Clinic in Enoosaen, several teachers, and a few of our Enoosaen Community Board Members. We know that to create a successful program, we need the input and involvement of the community. We are very grateful for these stakeholders' guidance and participation as we continue to grow and strengthen our Health and Leadership program.

We cannot wait to see the transformational work our new model will achieve! We will keep you posted on this pilot program and any further expansions. Thank you so much for your support. Our team, and especially these students, are truly grateful for change you are making possible.  

Links:

• Our Website

Thank you for supporting our Health and Leadership Training program! With your help, we are transforming communities by giving youth the information and skills they need to live healthy, empowered lives. 

Last year, we opened our doors to our new high school, known as KCE II. We currently have 51 girls in grades 9 and 10, and each year we will welcome another class until we reach full capacity. As we expand our educational program, we are also adapting our training curriculum to address the needs of these older girls. At Kakenya’s Dream, our goal is to identify the barriers that keep girls from attending and succeeding in school and then to work with the students, parents, and community to remove these barriers. For girls at our high school – and across the county – teen pregnancy is one of the greatest of these barriers.

Our first training for the high schoolers was held in early April. This training session was tailored especially for the 18 girls in our 10^th grade class. The small number of participants gave the students a personalized learning experience and allowed them to share more intimate thoughts and experiences with our trainers. The students also felt more comfortable to engage and participate in the training’s activities and discussions.

The girls learned self-defense to prepare them in case they find themselves in danger of sexual or gender-based violence. Our trainers taught them several physical and verbal techniques to help them avert this form of violence. They also engaged in discussions about adolescent sexual reproductive rights, puberty, boy-girl relationships, hygiene, sexuality, and sexual and gender-based violence. By the end of the training, the girls were sharing their experiences and opinions openly with the trainers and with one another. The level of trust the girls developed in the trainers led to meaningful conversations and questions.

We are thrilled to share these success stories not only from schools throughout the region, but also at our own high school. Thank you for being a part of this transformational work! We truly appreciate your support.

Links:

• Our Website