All posts by : Habil Habil

Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Kenya attended a high breed meeting organized by the East Africa Civil Society Organizations’ Forum (EACSOF) in partnership with Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development (CCGD), to address the declining civic space in the region. The meeting’s main objective was to discuss the Draft East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) CSO Bill that seeks to protect civic space in East African Community partner states. The meeting was attended by 67 members CSOs.

Speaking during the forum, David Sigano from East African Law Society noted that the bill has been facing numerous challenges with acceptance and passing as result of being a private member bill as compared to the executive bills. He urged the members to have an intensive public participation which will give the bill greater authority and bargaining power.

“If we can harmoniously speak with a single voice, then the chances for its success will increase and the bill will be forwarded to EALA for debate and passage,” he said.

Youth have a great role to play in preventing gender -based violence (GBV); by creating awareness through various innovative ways such as the use of social media, peer to peer engagement, edutainment, and artivism. Through these platforms, the youth can cultivate attitudes that do not condone any form of GBV in the society. CCGD is has brought on board 20 youth across four counties- Kwale, Kajiado, Busia, and Mandera.

The convener of CSRG, Suba Churchill, asserted that the bill would indeed be critical advocacy tool noting that Kenya civic space is considered the best in East and Central Africa because South Sudan and Burundi civic space is closed while Ethiopia, Somalia, Tanzania and Uganda civic space is repressed. He urged member states to borrow best practices from open states such as Canada, Uruguay, Germany, Sweden, Norway and the Czech Republic as this will better place the CSOs to compete with the best CSOs around the world.

The forum was attended by The International Centre for Not-for-Profit Law (ICNL), Civil Society Reference Group (CSRG), Independent Medical Legal Unit (IMLU), CUTS International, and Peace Initiative Miritini among other organizations.

Youth have a great role to play in preventing gender -based violence (GBV); by creating awareness through various innovative ways such as the use of social media, peer to peer engagement, edutainment, and artivism. Through these platforms, the youth can cultivate attitudes that do not condone any form of GBV in the society. CCGD has brought on board 20 youth across four counties Kwale, Kajiado, Busia, and Mandera to use their prowess in addressing GBV issues in their counties.

The youth verbatim is a segment that highlights the profiles of the GBV youth champions who are amplifying the voices of women and girls by addressing GBV issues within their respective communities.

For this issue, we had one-on-one discussion with Aldrin Timo, a male GBV Youth Champion from Busia County. Aldrin, the founder of Trail Foundation is a male champion who has made gender equality and women’s empowerment his cause and mission.

Briefly explain to us who is Aldrin Timo

My name is Aldrin Timo from Matayos in Busia County. I am the founder of Trail Foundation and also a GBV youth champion in Busia County]

Which organization do you represent or work for?

Currently, I am working at my foundation which is a youth led organization in Busia County. Our core mandate is to address the issue of single parenthood by directly engaging the a­ffected youth.

Why did you start the organization?

The reason why I started this organization was to come to the aid of teenage mothers, I wanted to give them a mileage and make understand that being a teenage mother is not a crime.

Apart from encouraging the young mothers that being a young mother is not crime, how else do you engage them?

As a group, we have ventured in agri-business where we have incorporated the teenage mothers in small-scale farming which entails growing vegetables and onions. Our main aim is to empower them to be independent. Further, we are also helping them in marketing of the farm proceeds by identifying markets where they can sell the products.

How did you end up becoming a GBV Youth Champion?

When talking about issues of GBV and leaving men/boys out of the conversation yet they perceived to be the perpetrators of GBV cases will help in reducing the cases. I became a GBV champion so that I can bring the men/ boy in the GBV conversation. I needed a platform where I can talk to the boys and enlighten the girls too.

How do you handle societal perceptions which depict GBV to be a women’s affair?

Indeed, many people view GBV campaign as women’s affair, what they don’t know is that both men and women can suffer from GBV.

Do you think men/boys experience GBV?

Yes, majority of men and boys are being sodomized others are being buttered by their spouse but suffer in silence because they have not embraced the art of speaking up. As a fellow man, I usually encourage them to come out and share their experiences.

As you have said that men/ boys don’t have the courage of speaking up, what strategy are you using to make them open up?

I just bond with them, yes speak their language, in turn they see me as one of them thus the trust is built. I can say majority of them have been opening up.

Menstrual Hygiene is one of the topics men/boys’ fears talking about, how do you deal with the issue?

It is true that men/boys fear talking about menstrual hygiene. Personally, I have been with knowledge on menstrual hygiene, right now I am able to attend public forums and demonstrate how sanitary towels are used. As a result, many boys have benefited from such demonstration and are now talking about menstrual hygiene openly.

Are there challenges you face as GBV Youth Champion?

At first it was not easy to stand up and openly speak about GBV issues also age was a challenge on its own. I was viewed as young boy hence delivering the message to the people was not easy. Thanks to CCGD for coming to the rescue through various capacity building and trainings I overcame the challenges