1. Empowerment of women in a rural Kenyan village through the enhancement of business skills and the creation of an income source.
2. An enhanced local economy.
3. Improved girl-child school attendance in local primary and secondary schools.
4. Improved community health through the empowerment of women and the education of girls.
8 Women from the village with sewing skills have been trained in appropriate business management and machine sewing skills. The women sew pads, uniforms and bags. http://vimeo.com/15878624 These women work very hard, they make all the decisions (i only act as a facilitator). Also, these women have had some levels of business experience before and that makes things easier. The project adheres to both environmental sustainability, and economic sustainability.

Problem

1. Empowerment of women in a rural Kenyan village through the enhancement of business skills and the creation of an income source. 2. An enhanced local economy. 3. Improved girl-child school attendance in local primary and secondary schools. 4. Improved community health through the empowerment of women and the education of girls. 8 Women from the village with sewing skills have been trained in appropriate business management and machine sewing skills. The women sew pads, uniforms and bags. http://vimeo.com/15878624 These women work very hard, they make all the decisions (i only act as a facilitator). Also, these women have had some levels of business experience before and that makes things easier. The project adheres to both environmental sustainability, and economic sustainability.

Solution

This project raises topics that are seen as taboo in Lwala; sex and menstruation. In providing pads to girls and education, the women are starting dialogue about menstruation. They are providing more details and reasons beyond what the textbooks offer (the drawing of reproductive parts). They explain why it occurs other than a common view that women are cursed. This project allows for the girls to have a new vision that in deed it is healthy to menstruate. Then the project also overcomes the challenge imposed by poverty. It allows girls who due to poverty have been using grass, sponges, dirt, etc to finally buy cheaper and yet cleaner pads. There is also increase in school attendance when these girls are informed about menstruation and given the tools. Also, in providing employment women can become breadwinners thus challenging the view that men are better than women. In this case the women have created employment for themselves and can expand for others. All the above efforts are necessary in decreasing gender disparity. In a recent UN Conference on the 55th Commission on the status of women, Mannathoke (senior advisor education Unicef) stressed the importance of the role a community can play in providing that which the formal education doesn't provide. Also, the UN women secretary general Bachelet recently in launching of UN women, stressed the empowering of women economically and its immense results on the community.Further, president Clinton on his speech at Cgiu in Miami stressed the importance of grassroot initiatives.Therefore, this project continues to benefit many.

Exemple

The women conduct sexual and menstrual education in each school they attend to distribute pads. In doing this, the women hope to bridge the gap between mother and girl that exists in the village. Also, it holds meetings with other women groups to learn ways in which women can initiate healthy dialogue about sex and menstrual hygiene between mothers and girls. The women in the past have distributed journals to allow girls to record days when they miss school and the reasons. This was important since it allowed us to learn that the other issue that led to absent cases was high number of orphans. With high rate of HIV, parents die leaving girls to step into a role of mothering at an early age. That means they attend school less and have low levels of concentration. The pads in many cases are given free to the school girls during public events such as girls education day. Other times they are sold at a lower price. The uniforms have been free so far. The women gain income from their work and use that to feed their families. The project help in reducing amount of women asking for money from their husbands (something that often causes fight in the family). Further the women continue to gain new skills and learn from each other the community.

Marché

Lwala is a village of approximately 1500 residents in western Kenya. Lwala is a remote village, without any running water or electricity. The area surrounding Lwala (Kameji sub-location) is home to approximately 4000 people. There are 6 primary schools and 2 secondary schools, several churches, and many local open-air markets in the area. The major economic activity for the local people is subsistence farming. They grow maize, beans, groundnuts, bananas, cassava, yams, millets, sorghum, finger-millets, and tomatoes.