Developing Women Leaders

It is hard not to be shocked by the brutal murder in Kenya of 24 year-old Olympic marathon runner, Rebecca Cheptegei. And not to be aghast to learn that this follows the murder of other elite athletes Agnes Tirop, Edith Muthoni and Damaris Mutua by their ‘partners’, seeking their hard-won cash. You will know from earlier posts that the fight for female equality and safety in Kenya is a bloody and painful battle. Things are improving – for example about a quarter of seats in parliament are now held by women – but very slowly.  Gender-based violence is rife, girls are much less likely to attend secondary school  and Children’s Services are so swamped with cases that they often cannot offer even the most basic protection and support.  They rely on NGOs like KCC to take in orphaned, abandoned and abused girls. 

Since its inception KCC has fought to protect, educate, and advance the girls and young women in our orbit. In 2021 this motivated us to set up our Women Leaders Programme. The programme offers the wrap-around support that extremely disadvantaged girls need to complete their education and develop the skills and self-confidence to become self-sustaining.

We provide financial support to attend a private girls high school or university, along with mentoring from both a Kenyan professional woman and an international woman mentor. We also offer twice-yearly training weekends led by international management consultants, to develop their business and leadership skills. All of the girls are committed to mentoring other girls and passing on the skills they learn.  Our ambition is that the girls will become leaders in their communities and role models for other girls.

As the first cohort of girls approach the end of their educational courses, we are particularly struck by how much they have changed over the course of the programme. Girls who would hardly say a word at the first Leadership weekend are now volunteering to lead sessions. Girls who were struggling with some of the school curriculum are putting in place strategies to improve their grades. Girls who had dropped out of university because their families were unable to support them, or because they had an unplanned baby, are about to graduate and enter the world of work. Girls who had never spoken to anyone from outside Kenya chatting confidently over Zoom with a professional woman in the UK.

The programme has also had a profound impact on our teams in both Kenya and the UK as we have learned from the girls’ feedback what types of support works best for them. We feel humbled and proud of the progress they have made.

One of the girls sums up the impact of the programme in her own words…