All posts by : Maurice Goga

Private school owner Ms Eunice Musembi, the Director of Kevriz Academy in Ukunda South, Msambweni
sub-county, Kwale County suffered income loss during the covid related school closure.

“We stayed home for like a year because we came back in January towards the end. So in between there, it was tough. No money was coming and we were still constructing. So, things were tough,” she said.

An introduction to Jasiri Fund by a friend enabled her to access a loan. “I requested 500,000 which I used to complete a one-storey structure. I just got the money and instantly walked to the welder and paid for window grills and the balance I used to put up the floor. , “said Ms Musembi.

Despite the economic situation not being friendly to women like Ms. Musembi, she hopes to clear her first loan and apply for the second loan which will enable her to complete the first floor of the building.

She attributes her successful loan repayment to personal commitment – “Because the economic situation is not so friendly. It’s not like before and it takes commitment, a lot of it to service the loan because I want to go a step further so I just deposit money to my account and they deduct from the account.”

She urged women to come out and seek help no matter the situation they are in they will always find a helping hand. The Director called out organizations championing human rights to consider reaching out to more women to make them access equal opportunities saying a number of issues including gender-based violence segregate women from those opportunities.

The Jasiri Fund low-interest loan facility that Ms Musembi benefited from is supported by CCGD targeting
women affected by sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)

By Maureen Wairimu

Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) will be able to access free medical services at Kajiado County Referral Hospital GBVRC. Speaking during a legal aid clinic, Kajiado County Referral Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Fred Ayany said that hospital administration has waived all the medical bills for SGBV survivors seeking services at the centre.

Further, he noted that the hospital is in support of the centre and will provide a stipend of Ksh.1000 to medical staff who are key informants of legal proceedings. Dr Ayany also stated that he will ensure that the Post Rape Care (PRC) forms are well documented and certified by the medical staff to ensure that survivors get justice.

The legal aid clinic was organized by Kajiado County Referral Hospital GBVRC in collaboration with PROPOOR and CCGD. It sought to strengthen the management of ongoing SGBV cases. During the clinic, the survivors had a one-on-one session with lawyers and were enlightened about their rights.

The Kajiado GBVRC was established by the County Government of Kajiado with support from the Collaborative Centre and Gender Development (CCGD) to provide clinical and psycho-social services to SGBV survivors as well as boost the referral chain by supporting the collection and preservation of forensic evidence for the prosecution of cases.

By Nashipae Seney and Mitchelle Katete

Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development (CCGD) chairperson, Prof. Philomena Mwaura has commended the staff for their outstanding work towards advancing women and girls empowerment as well as gender equality.

The CCGD Chair- Prof. Philomena Mwaura has called attention and action on emerging gender issues that may derail good progress already made at closing gender gaps. These issues include the persistence of retrogressive gender norms that still assign women a lower socio-cultural status than men even when they occupy similar professional positions. Such norms also continue to restrain women from equitably participating in politics and confidently seeking leadership positions in spheres traditionally dominated by men.

She challenged CCGD to continue contributing significantly to empowering women and girls to confront stereotypes that demean them as well as structural barriers to gender equality in policy and legal frameworks but also those embedded in traditions and cultures.

Speaking during a two-day review of the draft CCGD Strategic Plan 2023-2027, the chairperson urged the
staff to use the opportunity of the new strategic plan to accelerate progress toward gender equality by ensuring that program objectives are achieved.

The new strategic plan being finalized defines organizational goals within the 2023-2027 period and provides clarity, and direction on programmatic, operational and geographic areas of focus. Further, it outlines organizational alignment to implement and track progress towards the intended results of CCGD policy advocacy on gender equality and non-discrimination.

By Maurice Goga

Women and girls in Baringo County will be empowered to embrace innovation and adapt to technological changes, a move that seeks to bridge the gender digital divide in the county. 

Speaking during the Baringo County celebrations of 2023 International Women’s Day themed ” DigitAll: Innovation and technology for gender equality” at Kabarnet National Museum grounds, Baringo County Governor, H.E. Benjamin Cheboi noted that his administration is committed to advancing gender equality by allocating more spaces and opportunities for women in the County. 

He said that despite the progress made in bridging the gender digital divide, statics still show that most women who are involved in entrepreneurship, agriculture and cultural spaces still do not know how to use digital platforms to market their products and services to reach their consumer base at the local, national, regional and global levels.

He pledged that his government shall empower women and girls to embrace new innovations and technological changes. “Baringo County government is committed to empowering women and girls to embrace innovation and adapt to technological changes so that we can achieve digital gender equality,” he said.

Further, he called on administrators to ensure that the capacity of women and girls is enhanced when it comes to procurement and tender opportunities at the county or national level. 

“We have put measures in place to ensure that women entrepreneurs are supported by the county government. I have directed various directors to ensure that the procurement department builds the capacity of women on how to apply for procurement and tender opportunities at the county government,” said the Governor.

The Governor also said the county government will work together with the Vocational Training Colleges to improve digital literacy among women and girls.

In Kwale County, Kwale County Governor, H.E Fatuma Achani encouraged women to apply for tenders at the county level. She also promised to support the success of the County SGBV Bill. 

In Busia, CECM Finance, Economic Planning and ICT, Mrs Topsister Wanyama affirmed the county’s commitment to prioritizing programs on innovation and technology by supporting the young women innovators. “The county is keen on integrating technology in its operations, therefore, there will be a lot of opportunities for young women innovators.

Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development supported this year’s IWD celebrations in Nairobi, Kwale, Busia and Kajiado counties. This year’s theme underscored the need for a gender-responsive approach toward innovation, technology and digital space.

By Carol Jebet, Vicky Kisilu and Sharon Ngaira

The expose by BBC on ‘Sex for Work; The True Cost of Our Tea BBC Africa Eye Documentary’ revealed the silent yet normalized gender-specific form of corruption that uses sex as currency, that is, sexual extortion.  Sextortion mainly affects vulnerable girls and women who seek various services such as National Identity Cards, supplies of sanitary pads, education, training and job placements, and promotions at workplaces.  Speaking during a Twitter Space live session dubbed ‘Sexual extortion as a gender-specific form of corruption in Kenya’ Jaqueline Mutere, the Co-founder of Grace Agenda, compared sextortion to rape: “The definition of Rape is anything that is not consensual and as long as I have not given you my consent willingly, that means you have extorted it or taken it by some form of coercion,” she said.

Further, she noted that due to the vulnerability of women and girls, sex has become very transactional and acts as a form of currency, citing sex for fish that is very rampant along the coastlines and shores where fishmongers give in so that they can attain the first pick from the boat.

“They were coerced to work there because they had no place to go because they were accommodated there and for you be accommodated and for you to work there and for you to get some refuge, you had to succumb to sexual favours,” said Ms Mutere.

On the other hand, Elijah Rottok, Senior Human Rights Officer at Kenya National Commission on Human Rights noted that our laws are still silent on linking gender and corruption to the extent that such incidents may be looked at as sexual abuse and just basic exploitation.

He said there is a need for state and non-state actors to distinguish sextortion from other forms of sexual and gender-based violence or sexual harassment.

“For sexual extortion, there has to be that abuse of authority and then the elements of exchange that I am giving you this for you to have this or for me to access this service. Sextortion is more about psychological coercion. So, there isn’t physical coercion when it comes to sexual extortion” said Rottok.

He added that sextortion may not necessarily imply that there is intercourse in some incidences, but it may cover cases where someone wants another party to either expose their body or send them an explicit image where they are exposing parts of their bodies.

Mr Rottok pointed out that cases of sextortion are prevalent within slums, especially around access to water where children who go to fetch water are exploited by the water vendors who ask for sexual favours so that they can skip the cues or even fail to pay.

Blandina Bobson, Programmes Director at Oxfam said people have normalized sexual harassment and the normalization has gotten to a point where people don’t think it is a big deal for people to be abused or sexually violated in order to access services.

She further said that often people become victims of sexual extortion due to their vulnerability which is well-known by the people who hold power.

“When a woman or man is put in a situation where you have to choose between providing for your family or getting a job, most people are driven to the world and do it not because they wanted, but because these people who hold power recognize the vulnerability in them and take advantage of it,” she said.

She said most of the victims of sexual extortion are not aware of their rights at workplaces or even educational institutions thus many cases are not reported.

“When you go to report, nobody will believe you – most people don’t even know their rights at the workplaces or even educational institutions,” said Blandina.

The discussions from the Twitter Space session point out that there is a clear and relatively less emphasis on the need to criminalize sextortion as a form of corruption because it is normalized. This normalization has, and continues to negatively affect vulnerable groups such as youth and women considering that sex is used as the currency in exchange for services, they may be seeking for

 There is a need to amend anti-corruption laws to include sextortion as a form of corruption to stop the normalization and persistence of the practice.

To achieve this, and with support from Ford Foundation, Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development has partnered with Kenya Human Rights Commission to conduct a study to understand how and where sextortion occurs, its incidence and how it may be presented as the form of corruption to aid efforts to reduce and eventually stop it. . This study will contribute evidence for policymakers to draft a robust inclusive multisectoral anti-corruption policy and implementation mechanism that shall comprehensively recognize and address the issue of sextortion as a form of corruption.

By Diana Mwanzia and Maurice Goga

Upon our arrival at Mrs Zan Rashid Zan’s homestead, we meet with several women with water jerricans on their heads, a sign that her homestead is a fount of the basic commodity that the community depends on.
Mrs Zan Rashid Zan is a renowned water vendor in Matuga sub-county, Kwale County. She has been in the water business for the past 10 years quenching the thirst of her community.

Despite being in the business for 10 years, she has not been able to serve the community fully since she did not have a proper water reservoir to reserve enough water for the community. However, things took a new turn when she learned about the existence of the Jasiri Fund.

“I learned about Jasiri Fund through a friend who informed me that there is an organization called Collaborative Centre for Gender Development (CCGD) which was equipping women survivors of SGBV with entrepreneurship skills and linking them with loans from Kenya Women Finance Trust Bank,” said Zan Rashid.

Later, she was enrolled as a beneficiary of the fund where she took a loan of Ksh.150, 000 which she used part of the money in purchasing a 5000 litres water tank which is acting as a water reservoir.

“I got Ksh.150,000 as a loan from Jasiri Fund and used part of the money to purchase a new water tank to replace the old tank. I also used the money to buy more cattle,” she said.

She says the water business is profitable since she can make up to Ksh.3,000 within a week, where a 10-litre jerrican goes for 5/= while a 20-litre jerrican goes for Ksh. 10/= thus enabling her to service the loan and fend for her family.

For Zan Rashid, her main dream is to have a borehole where she can have a constant flow of water as opposed to having the tap one which she says often breaks thereby affecting her business.

Apart from the constant breakdown of tap water, her business also faces competition from other water vendors within Matuga, whom she says has a borehole and freshwater as opposed to her water which is not as fresh as her competitors.

Mrs Rashid has also ventured into livestock rearing and hopes to expand when she gets her next loan. She attributes the new venture to the frequent entrepreneurship training by CCGD that has helped her learn more about financial management and record keeping.

“I am a beneficiary of Jasiri training before I used to run the business and I couldn’t manage my financial records perfectly. But after attending several pieces of training, I can now manage my finances well – I know the amount to spend, pay water bills and service my loan,” she explained.

Her call to CCGD is to make Jasiri Fund reliable and affordable to several women in Kwale County.

With support from Mastercard Foundation, through the Response, Recovery and Resilience Project in partnership with CREAW and GROOTS Kenya, CCGD has facilitated affordable financial services to women such as Mrs Zan Rashid Zan through Jasiri Fund. CCGD is currently implementing the program in Kwale, Kajiado and Busia Counties. As of December 2022, 278 women and youth (young women) and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) with existing businesses had received loans worth Ksh. 15, 115, 875.

By Maurice Goga

Covid -19 nearly brought to halt business operations not only in Kenya but globally. This follows the stiff measures that were placed to curb the spread of the virus, these measures affected women’s labour markets. Businesses such as greengrocery, mitumba (second-hand) clothes, and fish mongering which are dominated by women were hard hit as compared to those operated by men. The situation was exacerbated by the spike in cases of gender-based violence witnessed during the stay-at-home period.

To re-energize and rebuild the resilience of women survivors of SGBV, Mastercard Foundation supported a consortium of three organizations- CREAW, Groots Kenya and CCGD to develop Jasiri Fund. This non-collateral loan sought to facilitate affordable financial services s women survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Kenya in the wake of Covid-19.

To date, over 700 women have benefitted from the program. One of them is Ms Dolrose Awino, a greengrocery businesswoman based at Kinango market in Kwale County. Despite having a successful business before the onset of Covid-19, all the success she had made was watered down by the pandemic. Her situation was worsened by the continuous domestic violence she experienced in her marriage.

“My ex-husband used to beat me, he demanded that I leave the house by 10:00 am and come back by 5: 00 pm failure I would be battered. The man used to beat me daily because of the nature of my job where I have to leave early to the market and come back late in the night,” she narrated.

But when push came to shove, Ms Awino walked out of the abusive marriage. She was later enrolled as a beneficiary of the Jasiri Fund program where she was among other survivors who were taken through many entrepreneurship training before being given loans.

“Personally, I was given a loan worth Ksh, 80,000 which I used to boost my business and the profit ploughed from the business is what I used in buying these five cattle as I plan to venture into livestock keeping.,” she explained.

Added: “From the loan, I could use Ksh. 15,000 to buy a sack of sardines from Kisumu out of which I would make a profit of Ksh. 10,000 per sack and that is how I managed to raise money to buy these cattle.”

Ms Awino has not only ventured into cattle rearing but aspires to open up a retail shop within Kinango “As we speak, there is a place I have identified that am planning to open up a retail shop this is due to the harsh economic time we are facing. So, if I can combine the two businesses – greengrocery and shop then I will be one step ahead;” she said.

She remains buoyant that Jasiri will continue empowering more women like her. She, however, calls upon the program implementors to onboard more women in the program as this will help in reducing cases of SGBV in the county.

Despite making business progress, Ms Awino faces several challenges which she says has affected the business considering that her businesses rely heavily on Jasiri loan. “Some of the challenges we are facing here in Kinango are drought and rise in the price of commodities which have adversely affected our businesses,” said Ms Awino.

She pleaded with women in business to reduce expenses in their businesses and turn their focus into savings.

“I urge fellow women in business to put more effort into savings and avoid too many expenses in their businesses. They should also set targets in their businesses,” she said.

With support from Mastercard Foundation, through the Response, Recovery and Resilience Project in partnership with CREAW and GROOTS Kenya, CCGD has facilitated affordable financial services to women such as Ms Dolrose Awino through Jasiri Fund. CCGD is currently implementing the program in Kwale, Kajiado and Busia Counties.

By Maurice Goga

The theme for the 2023 International Day for Zero Tolerance for FGM: ‘Partnering with men and boys to transform social and gender norms to end Female Genital Mutilation’ highlights the need for male engagement in lifting the voices of women and girls in the campaign to end FGM.

A 2020 study by the United Nations Population Fund-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of FGM found that 89 percent of boys and men and 92 percent of girls and women were opposed to FGM. Meaning for FGM to end, there is a need for actors to address social norms that perpetuate the practice of FGM with a key focus on the active involvement of men and boys as partners in ending FGM.

In line with the 2023 theme, Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development (CCGD) organized a Twitter Space on what role young men and boys play in the eradication of FGM in Kenya on Thursday, February 16, 203.

Speaking during the space, Baringo County Youth Senator, Kalu Lepariyo noted that the fact that the African setting is a patriarchal setting in nature disadvantages the women and girls since men play a pivotal role in cultural issues since they are the custodians of those cultural structures, beliefs and systems. 

“Women have been disadvantaged and subjected to FGM and other cultural practices since they don’t have much say when it comes to cultural issues,” he said.

He added that the conversations around FGM have been a women’s affair for the longest time and men have been on the bench when it comes to such conversations. He, however, lauded the change that has been witnessed in the recent campaigns to end FGM where a number of young men have joined the campaign to end FGM in Kenya.

“It is now encouraging to see young men like my brother Leshan coming out clearly to challenge the government and other key stakeholders to take action against FGM. Others have even called for their involvement in advocacy against FGM,” he said.

The SDG5 champion called for the empowerment and education of women and girls as the way to emancipate them from the bondage of FGM and other harmful cultural practices.

On his part, the Chairperson of the UNFPA Youth Advisory Panel, Mr. Leshan Kereto noted women and girls often become vulnerable to FGM and other harmful cultural practices during conflicts and disasters such as drought.

“When drought strikes, young girls have to be given out for marriage to get back the cattle that have died. For this to happen, the girls have to be prepared for marriage through FGM,” he said.

The  Executive Director of Malkia Initiative, Ms, Jedidah Lemaron said that involving men in the fight against FGM is very critical as they will play a role in advancing and promoting gender equality and empowerment of women.

Adding that the majority of girls from the FGM-practicing community are subjected to the cut because of the fear of not getting married as men from those communities usually fear marrying uncut women as a result of stigmatization from the community.

“We have been socialized to believe that if you are ‘uncut’ you will not get married, the fear of not getting married is what is pushing women and girls to undergo the cut,” noted Lemaron.

She called on the members of the community to work together to end FGM saying that men supporting women will create an environment where everyone’s voice will count especially in decision-making in matters affecting the community.

Lack of political goodwill from the local leaders for fear of losing votes during the general elections, cross-border FGM and the medicalization of FGM were also cited as some of the trends that still fuel FGM in Kenya.