The government through the State Department for Gender Affairs and Affirmative Action will strengthen life skills education for girls using mentorship and community dialogue programs to reduce teenage pregnancy, female genital mutilation (FGM) and gender-based violence (GBV) prevalence among adolescent girls through a project dubbed 'Ngumzo Mashinani'.
The project to be implemented in partnership with Children's Investment Fund Foundation (CIFF) builds on the persistent harmful practices such as FGM and GBV, which undermine the fundamental human rights as well as social and economic development of women and girls, to transform deeply rooted socio-cultural beliefs and practices that perpetuate inequality.
According to the Kenya Demographic Health Survey (KDHS) 2022, an estimated 15% of women aged 15-49 have undergone female genital mutilation similar to the national teenage pregnancy rate. While 34% of women in Kenya have experienced physical violence since the age of 15 according to the same report.
Speaking during a consultative meeting with CIFF Africa Director Sophie Hodder, State Department for Gender Affairs and Affirmative Action Principal Secretary, Anne Wang'ombe observed that the statistics represent barriers to women’s full participation in development processes thereby constraining national social and economic development.
“These intersecting challenges; FGM, teenage pregnancy, child marriage and gender-based violence, not only impede women’s full economic participation but also violate their fundamental human rights”, said the PS. She outlined deliberate measures by the government to reduce risk factors such as school dropout that expose young girls to early marriage and teenage pregnancy. Wang’ombe expressed confidence in the project to promote community and grassroots-led interventions with long-term social transformation.
Ngumzo Mashinani Project will facilitate community dialogues against harmful practices, engage parents and guardians to support girls’ education and delay first pregnancy, strengthen community GBV protection structures and survivors support among other interventions. The project targets to impact women and girls from low-income and marginalized households and adolescent girls at risk of FGM, early marriage and teen pregnancy.