1000 Kibera slum girls empowered to excel

Sexual harassment has been identified as one of the major causes of school drop out among girls living in Kibera. The girls who alone to school are often confronted by men  cat call them, touch them on their private parts, make negative comment, stalk them or even sexually assault them in the lone corridors which are very common in Kibera.

Polycom Development Project have been using the Talking Boxes to give these girls a platform to share about issues affecting them through annonymous notes which are put in locked up boixes installed in their schools. PDP have since partnered with an organization Safecity to digitalize these process that made data available online for easy and wide access. Polycom used the last three months to map sexual harassment in different public spaces in Kibera then engaged the girls in coming up with simple campaigns to mitigate the harassment and make the spaces safe..

10 volunteers were trained as data collector, community members and other stakeholders also introduced to the process and given forms to collect data. The girls, leaders of the various prgrams in their schools were also engaged in collecting data from fellow pupils. This model look into WHAT happened, WHO is the survivor / perpetrator and WHERE did it happened.

So far 1,200 cases were documented and uploaded on the website: www.safecity.in. One of the simple intervention initative conducted saw the girls write simple messages on papers, and stood in one of the spaces for the boys camping around there harassing them to see how they want to be treated. They young men were so ashamed and the numbers of those sitting there have reduced. Upto 15 spaces have been mapped so far and with other stakehoiders Polycom is working in engaging the community members in making the spaces safe for girls going to school.

Alice walked into my office three years ago, very desperate but determined to pursue her post primary education. He sick single mother could not raise her fee, she was looking for scholarship. Through CARE- Kenya, Alice got to school. Alice will be sitting for her O-Leve examinations this year.

Many girls like Alice struggle with not just education in Kibera making them vulnerable to manipulation and violence. There are older men in Kibera preying for sexual favours from these girls and without proper mentorship these girls become victims and drop out of school.

Alice was in a group of 35 girls who attended the school holiday session, trained on being herself, being healthy, empowered and money savvy. The girls gladly spent 24 days out of their one month school holiday discussing and having fun together. 

• The girls were all issued with calendas after a thorough training on Sexual right and reproductive health rights to mark and monitor their mensturation so they can seek medical help incase of irregularities.
• All the girls are issued with pads and panties enough to take them through the third term.
• The girls spent some time playing volleyball to nurture their sporting skills and utilize the safe spaces provided for games to share.

Three very needy girls were bought for school shoes.

Thank you so much for your support that provied essential items to the girls so they dont fall victims to violence and manipulation, so they can concentrate on their studies so as to break the circle of poverty in their lives.

Links:

• Girls playing volleyball