Kiambu set to benefit from “Elevate Voice Yake” SGBV programme

Kiambu,

Tuesday, December 19, 2023

KNA by Wangari Ndirangu

 Kiambu County is among three counties in the country that are set to benefit from a three-year programme dubbed “Elevate Voice Yake”.

The programme is geared towards amplifying the voices and aspirations of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) to better exercise their right to a dignified and meaningful life protected from Social Gender Based Violence (SGBV).

This will be done through integrated action by communities, government, private sector, and civil society initiatives across three counties of Kiambu, Kwale and Meru

The programme is funded by the USAID and runs from 2023 - 2026 and implemented by three organisations namely Centre for Rights Education and Awareness ( CREAW- Kenya), Life Skills Promoters (LISP) and Young Women Christian Association ( YWCA).

Speaking in Kiambu during an entry meeting of the project for the County, Pauline Mbodze from YWCA said the project in Kiambu will engage Kikuyu and Kabete sub counties.

She added that the programme guided by four pathways will look at social norm transformation, mentorship, coaching and life skills promotion, advancement of legal and policy reforms and improved coordination, networking and collaboration.

“We will be looking at social norms and cultural practices that disempower AGYW such as FGM, early & forced marriages, SGBV, child labour, look at the social narratives and ideologies that promote SGBV amongst AGYW such as “sexual matters should not be reported”, “its not right to report abuse of a relative coz it will bring shame” as well as religious practices that disempower AGYW,” she added.

Mbodze said, under the programme, they will recruit 1050 AYGW who will undergo training on social behaviour change, support them to voice their issues in not only County SGBV forums but also during behavioural change campaigns.

During the campaigns that will be used to strengthen community responses to SGBV, there will be development and dissemination of key messages such as IEC materials, social media as well as testimonies and voices of AGYW as well as online campaigns, webinars, twitter space, facebook and even Instagram,” she said. 

The outcome, Mbondze said will see enhanced community actions that promote positive norms, values, attitudes and practices that prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence.

She added that the programme will also establish men engagement where 60 male Training of Trainers (ToTs) will participate in training, community campaigns and have quarterly dialogue in the male space.

The programme, she noted will also have 120 County SGBV review team scorecard holders whose engagement will involve development of SGBV score card tool, community scorecard meetings and presentation of score card results to County SGBV forums. 

On mentoring and life skills coaching promotion, the programme targets adolescent girls and women of between 15- 25 years in learning institutions and three TVETs. 

Mbondze said the programme intends to reach 1800 AGYW across secondary schools and the three TVET institutions be involved and activities carried out in schools”, she said.

Mbondze noted that the outcome will see strengthened voice, power and agency of women and adolescent girls across three counties to prevent, detect and respond to violence through mentorship, coaching and life skills promotion by 2027.

“Our approach is engaging entry level meetings with educational stakeholders for project buy in and implementing the ministry of education life skills training manual in schools and TVET institutions and this will see 18 Tots deliver training in targeted schools and TVETs.

The activities will involve holding sensitization forums and training sessions for AGYW on human rights, SGBV prevention, and response, developing tools to assess individual life skills gaps, training teachers on providing first-line support to GBV survivors using WHO’s LIVES approach and collaborating with existing interventions for effective support and referrals.

She noted that the programme will also strengthen County specific gender policies on SGBV in the target Counties.

“We will leverage County structures to carry out coordination and collaboration forums in counties between County government, private sector , CSOs in strengthening proactive mechanisms to prevent exploitation and abuse of AGYW,” Mbodze said .

There will be provision of legal and psychosocial support to survivors of SGBV and also consultative meetings on subsidy on essential commodities with private sector actors.

Beatrice Martha from the SGBV coordination office in Kiambu said the reported cases of GBV in Kiambu has gone up to 705 cases currently, up from last year's 607 cases.

“There are more females affected by GBV more than the men but the male might be below because of not seeking for interventions,” she added. 

Martha noted that a quality assurance assessment done shows that the majority of recommendations given following cases of GBV are not implemented and most times facilities lack funds which is a main barrier.

She said that they are soon establishing a one stop clinic at the Ruiru Level 4 and also pursuing one at the Thika Level 5 hospital.

“We want to address the challenges of SGBV by having standalone clinics in health facilities and also establishing County/SGBV chaplains in primary and secondary considering sensitivity of the matter”, Martha said. 

According to Chief Magistrate Kiambu, Emily Ominde, Kiambu is one of the Counties where the SGBV cases are high in number and statistics showing that 17.7 percent of women were subjected to violence. 

The Magistrate said the courts have set up strategies on how to handle the cases with necessary sensitivity it deserves considering that most of the victims of the SGBV are children.

Ominde explained that out of six courts at the law court, two courts will be handling SGBV cases from Monday to Friday and that files containing SGBV cases shall be colour coded for ease of identification.

“In consultation with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP) we will be registering and flagging out GBV cases by prioritizing them on the plea dates and our strategy is to complete and finalise cases within 6 months. 

According to experts, the biggest challenge in the GBV has been on data and also delayed justice. Government statistics from the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) last year indicated that over 40 percent of women have experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

Courtesy; KNA