Remarkable girls in Turkana and Kilifi Counties.

Approximately three years ago at Akili Dada we started the conversation of scaling our programs and being more intentional to serve the most underserved girls and young women in our communities. For the Young ChangeMakers Program, scaling our scholarship program meant venturing into new territories where few other scholarships funds were present and where the need was dire. After a year of extensive research, site visits, learning and unlearning what works for girls in these geographies we finally settled on two pilot schools: St. Daniel Comboni Secondary School and St. Thomas Girls Secondary School in Turkana and Kilifi counties respectively.  In 2019, we successfully awarded scholarships in both schools.

According to the Ministry of Health - Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health Report, the net enrollment rate of children in primary school in Turkana County is 59%. Only 12% of girls in this region transition to secondary school. Many girls in the region are at risk of dropping out of school due to poverty, harmful cultural practices such as FGM and early and forced child marriage. In Kilifi, on the other hand, only a quarter, (26%) of children in the official secondary school-age are enrolled in secondary school. The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2014 shows that 1 in every 4 girls aged 15-19 years in Kilifi has delivered a child. Alarming high rates of teenage pregnancy, low illiteracy, poverty and poor parenting plague the region.

Yet with these shocking statistics, barriers and huge impediments there are always outliers. In our humbling and fulfilling experience programming in both these regions we have met them! Not one girl but many of them! We have seen firsthand perspective how girls with a will and an opportunity can soar. For instance, we have met the fantastic four; Dzidia, Susan, Swabra and Safina from St. Thomas Girls who invented an IED Detector for the Kenya Defense Force as part of their science project! We have met the pioneer KCSE candidates from St. Daniel Comboni who despite lack of proper infrastructure in their school were able to send a dozen girls to public university later this year. We have met girls who are hungry to learn, who want a seat at the front row of their class and who want the same for their sisters, cousins and neighbors! We have met girls who are challenging lack of implementation of the back to school policy and who refuse to accept that they cannot be a teenage mother and a student at the same time. We have met girls who have spoken up and who have convinced their parents and guardians that education is truly their key and their right to life. We have met girls who are hopeful for the future and who want to change the narrative for girls in Turkana and Kilifi. We are excited to be part of their journey and can’t wait to see how their stories unfold….

First Published By Akili Dada on 24^th March 2020