WOMEN EMPOWERNMENT THROUGH FINANCIAL LITERACY
Empowerment includes the action of raising the status of women through education, raising awareness, literacy, and training. Women’s empowerment is all about equipping and allowing women to make life-determining decisions through the different problems in society. Investing in women’s economic empowerment sets a direct path towards gender equality, poverty eradication and inclusive economic growth. Women make enormous contributions to economies, whether in businesses, on farms, as entrepreneurs or employees, or by doing unpaid care work at home.
Working with a variety of partners, our programs promote women’s ability to raise household income through non-conventional, ways to manage their finances through budgeting, accumulating assets, Sexual, reproductive health issues and Gender Based Violence issues. One critical area of focus is financial literacy among women in the rural areas. Women and girls in rural communities need to be mentored so they can understand the best practice of finances, from saving to investing and reinvesting in their businesses. Traditionally women are saddled with a combination of responsibilities in the productive, reproductive and social spheres. Women perform the bulk of household work and often have little time left to pursue economic opportunities.
The County Government in partnership with Bethel Network has so far trained over 5,000 women in Kiambu on financial literacy and home budgeting. Women drawn from all Sub Counties within Kiambu County benefited from the training that was done at the ward level. A beneficiary of the program, Agnes a Community Health worker said that the training was long overdue; the knowledge gained will go a long way in enabling her to manage finances at home especially during this Covid – 19 period she plans to pass on the knowledge to her friends and neighbors’.
Fidelis Gathoni of Joy Women’s Group expressed gratitude to the County Government for the training at the grass root level and the knowledge she gained on savings and investment beyond table banking. She said that the training has expanded her knowledge on saving and managing her daily income earned from her casual job at one of the industries in Thika Town.
SEXUAL AND GENDER BASED VIOLENCE
Another critical area of focus involves advocacy against Sexual and Gender Based Violence. According to the United Nations Office on Drugs & Crime globally 58% of the women are killed at the hands of intimate partners or family members. In Kenya, evidence provided by the National hotline showed that Kiambu recorded 3rd highest rates of Gender Based Violence in the month of April 2020.
In a bid to create more awareness and encourage active community engagement on sexual and gender based violence the County Government has partnered with Groots Kenya & MasterCard Foundation and other key stakeholders to deliberate on ways to strengthen the existing policies and effectively manage Gender Based Violence in the County. The County Government and the key partners plan to establish a GBV safe house, offer psychosocial support, counselling, legal advisory services, emergency rescue services, affordable business loans for survivors & in kind grants. The County Government is developing a gender mainstreaming policy to improve quality of programs, projects and ensure sufficient and efficient budget allocation, a socially just and sustainable society.
H.E. Governor Nyoro has expressed concern over the high rates of Sexual and Gender Based Violence in the County and has assured the partners of his full support through technical teams and financial support through the directorate of gender.
