BY TONY WAFULA
Bungoma County government has entered a four-year partnership to empower women and girls, enhance education, provide leadership opportunities and deal with gender inequality.
Sarah Muhoya, Chief of Party Echo Network Africa Foundation (ENAF), said her organization has partnered with the Democracy Trust Fund and grassroots organizations in Bungoma to ensure that huge groups of women are reached.
ENAF is a s a woman-led, women-serving development institution that works with partners to catalyze development towards positioning, empowering, and advocating for rights for girls and women to attain their potential and enjoy their full rights and as members of society.
Deputy Governor Janepher Mbatiany applauded the Irish government for picking Bungoma for the implementation of the project, affirming that Bungoma has been hit by the triple threat saying that such engagements would help in solving the menace.
“This programme is aimed at reaching out to women and girls so that we can curb the rampant femicide in the country,” Mbatiany said.
Further, Mbatiany lauded Echo Network for supporting Bungoma to come up with the Women Mafesto that was launched by area governor Kenneth Lusaka explaining the challenges women leaders undergo and gaps.
“Before embarking on programme implementation Echo Network Africa helped us draft the Women Mafesto that identified the gaps in women leadership gaps that we are going to fully address in the next three years,” she said.
On leadership opportunities, Mbatiany said the programme is also designed to encourage and increase women leadership positions in Bungoma. She regretted that out of the 45 ward representatives in the county, only seven women were elected.
“Through this Bungoma- Ireland partnership, we intend to increase women in leadership positions in Bungoma,” she said.
Further, she rallied communities to remove perceptions that only men are meant to lead.
Ireland Ambassador to Kenya Caitríona Ingoldsby said she is impressed by how the county is collaborating with communities to fight triple threat and climate change effects.
“The aim of this project is to make the lives of families and people in Bungoma better,” the Ambassador stated.
Governor Kenneth Lusaka said that the programme will also help fight rampant teenage pregnancies and sexual gender based violence (SBGV) in the region.
Bungoma County’s sexual and gender-based violence prevalence is 23 per cent, compared to the national average of 13 per cent.
Between 2016 and July 2023, data from the county shows that 9,089 cases of sexual and gender-based violence were recorded for girls aged between 10-17 years, compared to the 18, 510 cases that were reported nationally.
Data from the Kenya Demographic Health Systems (KDHS) 2022 shows that 62 per cent of Bungoma women have experienced both physical and sexual violence.
KDHS data also shows that of all teenage pregnancy cases reported in the country, Bungoma has recorded 19 per cent of teenage pregnancy cases in the country.
Lusaka said that the history of the struggle by women to liberate themselves from the patriarchal systems and structures of oppression and exploitation and the quest for women’s participation in governance, leadership and other spheres of public life has continued for decades now.
“The launch of this manifesto is an awakening for Bungoma women as it will give them an opportunity to actively take part in leadership positions and be on the frontline to help us fight teenage pregnancies and SGBV,” he said.
The governor also called on women to be on the forefront to fight triple threat in the community.
The County boss stated that his administration has demonstrated commitment in eliminating sexual and genders based violence, teenage pregnancies, enhancing access and retention of women and girls to quality education and training, access to highest standard of health care including reproductive health care, promote maternal and neonatal health care, sanitation facilities and sanitary materials.
At the same time, Lusaka called for concerted efforts in empowering women into leadership positions affirming that women play a critical role in the society but they have been sidelined in leadership roles through male chauvinism.
Elsewhere in Vihiga county, the Embassy o Ireland has partnered with UN Women-Kenya, local community society organizations and county leadership for over three years to reduce election-related dender-based violence and increase female political participation.
