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
