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Girls Excel Initiative

Girls Excel Initiative

Girls Excel Initiative

From FGM, Period Poverty, Teenage pregnancies & Early Marriages to excelling in STEM

Over the past 39 years Echo Network Africa (ENA) has addressed issues that impede on Girls and Women’s social, economic and political inclusion in Kenya. 

Girls in Kenya and especially those living in rural areas face four main challenges; Female Genital Mutilation, Period Poverty, Teenage Pregnancies and Child marriages. These challenges affect the girls physical, mental, social and psychological being and have led to poor performance in Education, especially Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.

Through the Girls Excel Initiative, ENA seeks to catalyze acceptance and commitment by communities to eradicate Female Genital Mutilation, Period Poverty, Teenage Pregnancies and Early Marriages through accelerating the performance and uptake of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects among girls. 

The overall goal of the Girls Excel Initiative is:To Eradicate FGM, period poverty, teenage pregnancies, and early marriages and support girls to excel in STEM and contribute to a safe and just society in which girls are free from harmful cultural practices and are excelling in STEM.

 From 2008 to date, ENA has been working in Meru, Homa Bay and Narok counties to address the afore mentioned issues while catalyzing the acceptance and commitment to promote STEM education of girls in the target communities.

ENA targets both Primary beneficiaries (Young girls aged 5-20 Years including teenage mothers) and Secondary beneficiaries (County government representatives, Parents, and Communities) to eradicate the retrogressive practices and to promote the uptake and performance of STEM subjects though the establishment of Hesabu Clubs, mentorship, community dialogues and economic empowerment of parents through the ENA revolving loan fund.

Objectives

  • To promote acceptable result-based community approaches for combating Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) in Narok and Meru Counties and support increased performance in STEM subjects by girls.
  • To increase retention of school-going girls in the 22 target counties
  • To address women’s rights abuses across all areas where ENA has a presence.
  • Mobilize resources to implement and sustain the initiative
Peace and Conflict Resolution

Peace and Conflict Resolution

Peace Starts With Me

ENA has  been at the forefront of peace building initiatives across the Country since 2011. The Initiative has implemented programs in peace and conflict interventions, women participation in electoral processes as well as media engagements.

It was successful in strengthening peace building initiatives through local community interventions that helped to prevent, mitigate, and respond to politically instigated conflict. ENA has  used media platforms to enhance constitutionalism among Kenyans through the national values and principles of governance using of peace messaging.

Through this interventions   communities were empowered to take full ownership of their own safety contributing significantly to their overall security hence becoming important partners with government security agencies.

In this area ENA works with partners with enormous experience in peace building, human rights, inclusion constitutionalism, rural livelihoods and gender issues .

Overarching Objective: To contribute to national peace and entrench a sustainable peace movement through active and inclusive public participation of women to cultivate a culture of constitutionalism in Kenya. Peaceful, fair, and Just Society.

Objectives

  1. To increase the participation of women in Peace processes.
  2. Women in informal settlements championing peaceful co-existence.
  3. To accelerate the growth and expansion of peacebuilding and conflict resolution in at least 10 counties.

Broad Objectives

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