Fight for the Right Cause

Project Title: Wema Scholarship Fund

Main Goal: To contribute towards the achievement of sustainable goals….. by reducing the gap of girls’ enrollment into high school and higher learning institutions

Specific Objective:

• To provide full or partial scholarships to girls aiding them to continue with their learning
• Establishing a system that will provide education as an alternative rite of passage to girls and secure them from harmful traditional practices like female genital mutilation and child marriage
• Provide mentorship for girls and coaching in STEM
• Seek and establish partnerships with universities, colleges, and TVETS that will promote girls’ access to learning opportunities.

Focus geographical regions: 

Background

The majority of children in Kenya are girls.  However, most of them are left behind in the political, social, and economic development spheres because of hardships related to limited access to education, menstrual hygiene, early and unwanted pregnancy, child marriages, harmful cultural practices like FGM, and lack of effective mentorship programs that can help avert all the mentioned problems and assure them a better and brighter future. 

Although Kenya outlawed Female Genital Mutilation in 2011. It is sad that Kenya is home to 4 million girls and women who have experienced FGM. Overall, 15 % of girls and women aged 15 to 49 years have undergone the cut, varying from 98% in the Northeastern region to 1% in the Western region.

To address the gaps in the areas above, Wema Health Foundation has designed a scholarship and mentorship that can see them realize their dreams and live independent lives.

For instance, one of our focus regions is Migori:- Migori county is classified as a child-rich county with more of 50% of its population constituting children between 0-14 years. Only 15% of the population has an education level of secondary and above.  Only 28% of the residents have access to clean water and sanitation. Migori is among the poorest counties, highest prevalence of both Female Genital Mutilation-(one region in Migori, Kuria, has a 96% prevalence of FGM) and HIV/AIDs in the country. Further, in every 100 girls enrolling for school in Migori, 64 do not proceed to the next level because of child marriage and teenage pregnancy.  FGM and poverty is major predecessor of child marriage. 

For projects implementation, a pilot program was implemented in October 2020 where 118 girls and 97 boys attended. The attendance, which was above the 100 targeted girls, showed a massive need for mentorship on healthy life skills education. The next roll out was conducted in December 2021 where more than 200 girls attended securing at least 10 girls from being cut during that week.  And in April 2023, we conducted a 3-day retreat that saw attendance of more than 300 young people.  To date, 200 girls are beneficiaries of this program of which 35 girls were secured from undergoing the practice of FGM and are fully supported to pursue their education

Itimesed budget :