WARDA has established important foundation for the empowerment of women and girls living in rural horn of African communities. Our main services include training young women on how to provide for their families without waiting for male partners to be the family’s breadwinners. We have so far trained of 700 women on traditional birth attendants courses, tailoring programs, financial management programs, market appraisals, basic maths for calculating income and loss among other basic techniques. We have also supported young girls who are school dropout by encouraging them to return to school so they can complete their elementary education programs.
Dagahley Centre for Girls Excellence
Dagahley Centre for Girls Excellence (DCGE), located at Dagahley village, Wajir County, in North Eastern province about 95 KM North of Garissa town. The centre borders about 8 KM north of Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya. DCGE is located on 25 acres of land out of the 70 acres of land donated by the elders of the village and Wajir County Council. The region has in recent years experienced extended drought, famine and wars resulting many of the families dependent on relief food and handout, as well many children losing their parents in the continuous civil wars. Through benevolence and determination of many philanthropists namely, Global Aid, the Horn of African Relief Development Agency (HARDA), and MAA Australia. The centre has been constructed and complete. Comprising of an office, 5 classrooms, office, dining hall, a large multi-structured dormitory, 10 toilets and bathrooms, septic tanks, a large underground water reservoir and wired fence the centre is planned to house 120 orphaned girls and from 1st January 2014 we admitted 120 girls from around Wajir and Garissa County in northern rural Kenya. It is hoped that the centre will motivate the community living in the area, to appreciate the value of the education, which Insha’Allah will improve their living style, security, secure employment and live in a better way of life. There are significant disparities between the education of boys and girls in Kenya. In 2008 the North Eastern Province of Kenya the gross enrolment rate of girls was 24.5% and 39.3% for boys and the gross primary school completion rate for girls was 25.1% for girls versus 50.1 % for boys, which is double the dropout rate for girls in comparison to boys. There are a number of factors, which contribute to the disparities. These include parental and community attitudes towards the importance of education for girls, the patriarchal nature of the society that focuses on the education and development of males, the cultural and traditional roles of girls and women, which include domestic labour, early marriage and pregnancy, and lack of access to sanitary pads, which prevents girls from attending school during their monthly menstrual cycle. Other factors impacting on the gender equity in education include, poverty and high levels of illiteracy and limited education of parents/caretakers, lack of infrastructure and adequate facilities, equipment and supplies, the harsh environmental conditions, nomadic lifestyle and low levels of gender awareness Further there are a number of factors have been identified that influence girls’ poor access and poor academic performance.
FGM Program
According to the definition of the United Nations, ‘Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a practice that involves altering or injuring the female genitalia for non-medical reasons, and it is internationally recognized as a human rights violation. Globally, it is estimated that 200 million girls and women alive today have undergone some form of FGM.’ Women in the horn of African region experience un-precented challenges of this practice. WARDA has been advocating this old tradition eradicated. To promote the abandonment of FGM WARDA has approached community leaders, elders, youth, women and girls so as to engage them though various civil education and meetings to discuss how to help challenge this. In line with UNICEF’s approaches in promoting the abandonment of FGM, it states ‘coordinated and systematic efforts are needed, and they must engage whole communities and focus on human rights and gender equality. They must also address the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and girls who suffer from its consequences’.