Women Empowerment and Girl Child Education

Naserian Wlefare Women Group is working with the community around the Lolgorian division to realize the possibility of improving the living standards for the people and poverty eradication in the Maasai community. The community is currently facing many problems such as scarce medical facilities, few schools, and loss of traditional grazing land to conservation of wildlife, severe droughts, environmental pollution and lack of access to clean water. These problems have impoverished the Maasai community and despite of their land having been annexed by the government to create the Maasai Mara game reserve, little or no benefit is yet to be realized by the local people.
The situation is further worsened by negative cultural practices of the community such as FGM and early marriages of girls without giving them a chance to go through school. The future wellbeing of the Maasai community is thus threatened as many of its children do not receive education and this means that the Maasai community will find it hard to compete for the resources of Kenya , which will only be maximized and exploited by other tribes that have accepted education for both their boys and girls.

Women Empowerment and Girl Child Edjucation

The main purpose of this project is to encourage education of the maasai girl child and make community members especially women gain confidence that they are the prime movers of their own destiny and they are the major forces in dealing with the issues that confront them. Currently, 90% of Maasai girls are circumcised and married off before they reach the age of 13 years. Circumcision of both boys and girls is considered a rite of passage. It is however more serious for girls as they are considered ready for marriage once circumcised. At the end of it all, young Maasai girls are often sentenced to wifehood at an early age at the expense of education. NWWGI is currently planning to build a facility to act as a Rescue Centre for girls who prefer to acquire education as opposed to FGM and early marriage and those that are rejected by their families for refusing to be circumcised. The community has offered some land for the construction of such facilities that will also accommodate and be used to orphaned and vulnerable Maasai children. NWWG is fully committed towards the promotion of education for Maasai children more especially girls who are more affected by negative cultural practices such as FGM. FGM is the greatest challenge towards enhancing girl child education and we aim to sensitize the community against this practice in the following ways:

• Workshops on various topics e.g. the importance of educating the girl child, the dangers of FGM, the importance of women in resource ownership and management and HIV/AIDS workshops.

• Conduct sensitization and awareness creation workshops/ seminars for targeted community groups, community leaders, youth groups etc on FGM effects and consequences.

• Train selected community animators to inform them on the advantages of FGM.

• To train community animators and CORPS (Community Own Resource Persons) on community mobilization techniques.

• To sensitize primary school girls on the effects of FGM.

• Script, songs and plays for community education to sensitize churches, schools and villagers on the negative impacts of FGM.

• Record songs and audio tapes on anti-FGM for community education.

• Undertake research, baseline surveys including documentation of all information about FGM.

• Provide progress reports to partners/ donors outlining achievements, challenges and opportunities.

• To mobilize and inform the community on essential information on women’s health, reproductive health, human rights and the legal statutes of FGM.

• To lead the community target groups to suggest culturally acceptable initiatives of tackling FGM including alternative rites of passage.

• Establish community structures for support of education of the Maasai girl child.

The project is aware of the fact that because of FGM, most young Maasai girls never have an opportunity to gain formal education. NWWG is actively involved in seeking solutions that promotes Maasai girl child education. Our strategy in this respect is to approach willing individuals and organizations to sponsor Maasai girls in education. Although the government has recently introduced free primary education, this does not apply to boarding schools, supplies needed e.g. books and uniforms. The best chance for young Maasai girls to gain education is through boarding schools where they will be housed, educated and generally protected from cultural ceremonies such as FGM, which they will certainly face if they have to attend to school from their own homes. NWWG targets at finding educational sponsorship for 30 Maasai girls each year to attend both primary and secondary schools.