Shifting power through girls' education and leadership

It takes a village to raise a child (our absolute favourite African proverb)! Our spin is that it takes a village to raise a girl, and this could not be any more evident than when the new school term of 2025 began. Hundreds of girls were accompanied by their parents and guardians, and some were even escorted by the entire clan trekked for miles, and rode on boda boda( motorcycle used as a taxi for carrying a passenger or goods) to our girls' centre on a bright January 7th for what would be our ‘girls back to school day’.

Spread over an acre of land are the girls' school essentials, curated by our girls through the Girls' Council. This core list includes books, mattresses, school boxes, shoes, wellness, and menstrual healthcare essentials and is backed by a fat school fees cheque. Yes, a fat school fees cheque because, in January 2025-2026 we are supporting up to 70 girls- the first generation in their families to pursue post-primary education- through secondary school education on full education scholarships thanks to the backing of the Girls Opportunity Alliance- a program of the Obama Foundation She's the First and AMPLIFY GIRLS 

However, before we got to this momentous day, a lot of behind the scene work had taken place, including over 13 years of girl-led advocacy and girl-centred programming to prevent violence against girls. Msichana Empowerment Kuria’s girls' programming works with the most marginalised girls ( 9-18 years old) across villages in Kenya through a variety of interventions embedded in an intersectionality framework to amplify girls' power, agency, and voice.

Girl supported by Msichana Empowerment Kuria's Amandla project for girls education.

Over the past thirteen years, we’ve directly supported more than 1000 girls to access both primary and secondary school education, which serves as a stronger and more consistent protection against different forms of violence against girls like child marriage.

Through a case management approach, we onboard girls into our programming. We meet most of our girls at the age of 8 or 9 years, and over the next 9 to 10 years of her life we walk together to support her to realise her full potential, and this looks very different for each girl. As Angeline Murimirwa rightly says in her TED talk strengthening a girl's social support systems sets her up to exercise her power, enables agency, and strengthens her voice, so by the time we invest in her primary, secondary and post-secondary education, she is better equipped to navigate life.

Girls supported by Msichana Empowerment Kuria's Amandla project for girls education during the girls-sessions.

On the Msichana Empowerment Kuria ‘girls back to school week, we do three main things.

• One, we co-host an experience-sharing session with parents and girls, which also serves as a feedback and reflection session for our parents, girls, and us. Collectively, we talk about what has worked well, what hasn't, and what adjustments we can make moving forward. These sessions also include specific goal-setting sessions.

• Secondly, we have a girls-only session during which girls, particularly those transitioning from primary school, have an opportunity to listen in to the older girls on what life is like in secondary and how to navigate it, as well as participate in free health checks, mental health support, goal, and reflection sessions.

• Finally, the main event, where every girl, through a meticulously - to be honest, sometimes marketplace chaotic - process, is provided with her essentials through a checklist of the items listed by her school. Off the girls go to the various schools across the country.

As we embark on 2025, hope fills our hearts. And as one of our girls said, we ‘dare to dream’. We are grateful to all our partners who have supported us in different capacities to not only close the gap in girls' education but to be bold enough to break the various barriers limiting their potential.