Creating Opportunities for Marginalized Women

By Margaret Lewis-John, 2nd year MDP student

For the last couple of weeks of my field placement I was involved in a seminar on Girl Child education and development.  The aim of the seminar was to identify challenges affecting the development of the Girl Child in nomadic pastoralist communities in Kenya and to make recommendations on the way forward to the difficulties they experience. Through various focus group discussions, relevant strategies which could remedy the situation were identified for implementation. Additionally, the workshop allowed past scholarship beneficiaries of Indigenous Information Network (IIN) to share their experiences and challenges in completing their education.  This enabled us to recognize successful interventions which can be used to address the Girl Child education and development now and the future.  From the seminar deliberations, a work plan was formulated, a report was compiled and a proposal developed from the findings and submitted for possible funding.

Margaret (L) sharing a moment with Girl-Child participants

Based on my experience it seems natural when a child is born the parents start thinking of a school they will send the child and the potential of a career which is articulated to the child in toys and story books. However, this kind of prospect is not the reality for many children in Kenya, especially among pastoralist Maasai girls.  The reality for many is milking cows, taking care of animals in the hot scorching sun and walking long distances to fetch water and firewood.  Moreover, some never make it to a classroom since within nomadic pastoralist communities in Kenya there is a low status given to girls as compared to boys.  The preference for boys in pastoralist communities is cultural and historically based on the patriarchal system of inheritance.  Many girls are physically and emotionally abandoned or perceived as less important.  Subsequently, this perception is demonstrated even through celebrations prepared for the birth of a boy as opposed to the birth of a girl.  From the seminar I advocated for the setting up of funds for the education of girls and met with various private sector stakeholders who can assist in support of the girl child education and development. 

Margaret at WYLDE International Seminar on entrepreneurship

Furthermore, it was recognized that low economic status among women makes them vulnerable to continue their traditional ways of life which impacts on girls as they do not have the necessary funds to send them to school even though in Kenya there is a policy on free primary education.  Consequently, I attended a workshop held by WYLDE International on business development, which offers consulting, coaching and training on business as a way to help them to find their edge in whatever business opportunity they pursue.  This allowed me to develop a training manual for IIN which can be used for entrepreneurial training in pastoralist communities, especially among women. Also, going to the Massai market, I made many friends and taught them the hair style of interlocking dreads which many will use as an alternative means for income generation. 

 
As I reflect on my time in Kenya and with my host organization IIN, I can think of these words: it was truly memorable, educational and informative. It was an occasion in which I can certainly ponder and say, I will return in the foreseeable future.    

  

Margaret (L) and Maria (R) after hair locking at Maasai Market

Photovoice - using photography to advocate for gainful educational attainment for girls in northern Nigeria

By Badriyya Yusuf, 2nd Year MDP student

I am undergoing my practicum with the Isa Wali Empowerment Initiative (IWEI), a local NGO in Kano State, northern Nigeria. We are collaborating on the organization's Safe Space Clubs program which is an intervention designed to retain the girl-child in school - at least, up to grade SS3 (equivalent to grade 12). The program entails providing 98 secondary school girls in different rural areas with a forum in which to meet  and discuss their challenges and opportunities. Training is provided on human rights advocacy and issues such as water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), maternal and child health and nutrition are also introduced.

For my practicum, we decided to focus specifically on using Photovoice as a research method. Photovoice is a form of participatory action research which involves community building and dialogue through photography (Wang, 2006). Fifteen schoolgirls aged between 13-16 from three different rural areas were selected as participants in a 10 week project. The objective is to enable them to take pictures using digital cameras, of their perceptions of challenges and opportunities to gainful education and to advocate for their rights. Interestingly, none of them have ever held a camera before - really! There has been much enthusiasm, particularly on the workshop session when they were introduced to cameras. Who'd have known that a zoom lens could be such a fascination!! 

Badriyya (2nd from R) explaining Photovoice to participants

Our first few sessions of the project were centered around orienting the students to its specifics, and the rules of Photovoice - informed consent of the person to be photographed, how to use and care for a camera, time frames and expectations etc.

We've received overwhelming support from the community as all duty bearers and stakeholders were involved in the process - all but 2 of the girls have been attending workshop sessions. We found out that the absentees were denied participation by their brother. In a patriarchal society such as mine, this is unfortunately, not unusual. The unquestioned ability of a male figure to dictate the livelihood of a female child, sibling or spouse was among the main obstacles to education identified by the girls during our focus group discussions. This is evidenced by the high rates of early marriages in the region where 48% of girls are married by the age of 15 (UNFPA.org). For many of the girls, the pursuit of education dies when they get married.

As it stands at the moment, the girls have been given full possession of the cameras for the next few days. I eagerly await the pictures our rookies will produce.