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Establishment of a child care centre in Namanga border

By Maurice Goga

Namanga women cross -border traders have called upon the Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development (CCGD) and its partners to assist them establish a child care Centre so as to enable them to focus on their work better.

Speaking during consultative meeting with officials from CCGD, the women said they are eagerly waiting for the establishment the childcare Centre adding that the move will emancipate them from the intense child care work which bar them from actively engaging in their business.

Namanga Women Cross-Border Traders Association Chairperson, Alice Lemomo who engages in the Ushanga(beads) business noted that women cross-border traders have been facing various challenges since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic owing to the measures the government has put in place to curb the spread of the pandemic. Further, Lemomo cited the burden of child care as another big challenge they are facing as women cross-border traders.

“Some of these women have young children and many of them cannot afford the services of house help hence they carry the children to their business. This in turn affect the business because they cannot actively attend to their business with children on their back,” she said.

Namanga women cross -border traders have called upon the Collaborative Centre for Gender and Development (CCGD) and its partners to assist them establish a child care Centre so as to enable them to focus on their work better.

Speaking during consultative meeting with offcials from CCGD, the women said they are eagerly waiting for the establishment the childcare Centre adding that the move will emancipate them from the intense child care work which bar them from actively engaging in their business.

Namanga Women Cross-Border Traders Association Chairperson, Alice Lemomo who engages in the Ushanga(beads) business noted that women cross-border traders have been facing various challenges since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic owing to the measures the government has put in place to curb the spread of the pandemic. Further, Lemomo cited the burden of child care as another big challenge they are facing as women cross-border traders.

The chairperson welcomed the plan by CCGD and its partners to assist them establish a childcare Centre in Namanga border saying their children will find a place where they can grow physically, spiritually and socially.

“The opening of the child care centre will be of great importance not only to us but also to our businesses. As traders, we will have enough to time attended to our businesses resulting to increase in profit margins and general growth of our businesses,” she said.

She expressed her gratitude to CCGD for coming to the aid of women by easing the burden of childcare and thereby providing them an opportunity to actively engage in business.

“We want to thank CCGD for coming up with an initiative to establish a child care centre for Namanga women cross-border traders. Women are really struggling to run their business while at the same time take care of children. Some of them cannot afford services of a day care or house help while others have children with disabilities therefor the centre will bring a relief to us,” she reiterated.

The consultative forum was attended by 45 women traders from Namanga border in Kajiado County.

Child care remains a major burden to women and girls as society pin them with the responsibility of early childcare. Women continue to experience the burden of unpaid care work disproportionately due to insufficient national and county policies and program to address unpaid care work in general.

Rossee

Running business vs childcare duties

By Maurice Goga

They say men cannot multi-task while women can attend to various activities at the same time but when it comes to running of a business and taking care of a child concurrently the saying is tested to the limit as each of the activities requires undivided attention.

Rose Nyakio a trader who sells shoes along Amboseli Road in Namanga border is one of the many women who are grappling with the burden of childcare while at the same time running their business. Her situation is exacerbated by the fact that her business is located along the road.

This Rose says her business is facing by numerous challenges one of them being the burden of childcare, adding that her son occasionally goes about roaming forcing her to leave the business and look for him while leaving behind customers who in many cases do not wait for to come back and attended to them. She goes on to say that some customers are often irritated when the son cries as a result they leave and sometimes she has to breast feed the son in public which she says doesn’t auger well with some customers especially the male ones.

During the interview, she called on Collaborative Centre for Gender and Devlopment (CCGD) to come to her aid and that of many women who shares a similar predicament. She adds that with the childcare facility in place, she will be able to have more time for the business and child care duties will no longer be a hindrance to her business.

CCGD aims to contribute to redistributing the burden of unpaid (child) care work borne by women cross border traders through its partnerships with Ministry of East African Community and Regional Development, University of Nairobi Women Economic Empowerment Hub (UON WEE-HUB), East Africa Civil Society Organization Forum and Uthabiti Africa.

CCGD NEWSLETTER Image

Declining civic space in East Africa.

By Sharon Macharia

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.

Aldrin

The Youth Verbatim

By Maurice Goga

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