Women's Empowerment | Be a shining leader every day!

Kibera, Kenya | Women's Empowerment

November 9, 2019

Today's Women's Empowerment topic was all about leadership in the community with our facilitator Fay Sejo of La femme Coaching in Nairobi. You might have heard her on the local radio throughout the city or have seen her ticketed events, but we are so happy to have her as part of our Kenya Team and involved in the Women's Empowerment programming! Fay has been facilitating our Women's Empowerment since its launch and we appreciate her dedication!

(Fay Sejo of La femme Coaching)

Most women (and girls) are left out of the leadership opportunities and conversations in this community. When we look back over time, some women who wanted to run for office were turned away or pressured not to do so, even removed from the ballot because they were a female (Wanjala, 2014). While The Angaza Project is not involved in politics in any capacity, we are involved in women's empowerment! We want women to have a place to go in their community where they matter and are safe, we want them to know they are in fact valuable and their voice matters.

Leadership is not always about an official title, it is about influence. Fay spent a great deal of time today discussing this with the women. The group discussion was not only deep with personal stories or experiences of being left out of something, but it was also very rich in support that we saw develop among them. They were identifying areas and things over which they already have influence that they may not have fully considered before and ideas on how to further develop that together in the community.

(Left) Fay Sejo of La femme Coaching with one of the ladies, Julie (right)

As part of our Women's Empowerment, we distribute pads to the ladies thanks to the amazing support of the friends of The Angaza Project. When we open up the pad bins each month, there are some there because of YOU! Thank you so much! We finished our workshop today with tea and mandazis, giving the ladies a chance to have some space to socialize after. While our workshop was capped at 10 ladies, we look forward to expanding that number in the new year! We have a few of our High School girls from our Shining Scholars Sponsorship program graduating High School and entering a new phase of life. They will be joining the adult women's empowerment soon!

Thank you for continuing to support The Angaza Project, you are part of every moment of this! If you are ever in the Nairobi area, keep an eye out for La femme Coaching's public and ticketed events at various venues around the city. The tickets go fast!

References

Wanjala, E. (2014). Kenyan women face obstacles in public life. IRPR.