STADA seeks to attain Sustainable Development Goal 5, Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls, by ending all forms of discrimination, violence and any harmful practices against women and girls in the public and private sphere. Our aim is to empower all women and girls to take full participation in leadership, decision making and economic development.
We undertake different initiative to achieve our vision, this includes, addressing the underlying causes and motivators of violence against women and girls at a population level, gender-based violence (GBV) primary prevention programs aim to promote change.
We work around all forms of GBV i.e., physical violence, sexual violence and emotional violence. This we do by advocating for implementation of Gender Based Violence policies, sensitization in community and schools and working with key stakeholders in the justice system to bring perpetrators to book. .
Objectives:
STADA works to mitigate the gender-based issues that are primarily related to climate change. Our area of implementation is majorly in a flood predisposed area, and most women and children are displaced during the heavy downpours. The gender department comes in by providing mechanisms that the displaced persons can apply to reduce the occurrence of violence through community sensitizations and working closely with the local administration to reach out to the affected families, alongside stakeholder engagement. Referrals are also made to nearby facilities, in case of emergencies that occur during the period. On the other hand, STADA has a Water, sanitation and Hygiene program that ensures boreholes are drilled in the affected localities to minimize the distances women have to cover to get water, a factor that can lead to water violence.
Teen mothers are the most vulnerable group of women in the society since most of them became mothers due to defilement and without proper care and empowerment, these girls are easy targets to repeat defilement. Currently, STADA supports 49 teen mums across three centers: Nyabondo, Ogenya and Kobura.
Under this program we are dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty by empowering these young women to be able to fend for themselves and their children by taking them through vocational training, table banking, hand-off skills development, entrepreneurship training as well as offering scholarships to those interested in going back to school. We also take them through counseling sessions (individual and group) to ensure they heal completely from past traumas. Similarly, the young women have structured safe spaces, where they can meet and discuss matters affecting them, prior to referrals to and by the STADA Mental Health and Psychosocial Support staff.
Sexism, Misogynistic exploitation and other forms of social oppressions and abuse are but a few indicators of gender inequality that women continue to battle even as they try to measure up to their male counterparts. It is for this reason that we continue to build a strong feminist movement of like-minded women and men as we seek to put a finality to sexism, misogynists’ exploitation, and other forms of abuse in order to fully realize gender equality in both theory and practice. We
achieve this by conducting dialogues and sensitization in schools and communities to ensure that girls and women know their rights and are able to speak up when being violated.
Objectives
· To educate young girls and women on their rights and be able to stand firm to avoid oppressions.
· To eradicate sexists and misogynists’ exploitations and create a society where girls and women can thrive.
· To create awareness on the importance of gender equality and invite men to join the movement.
Currently, STADA has four (4) active feminist movement groups (all women) in three sub-counties: Nyakach, Kadibo and Kisumu East. These include widows and Internally Displaced persons (IDPs), totaling to 67 women. The beneficiaries are actively involved in Socio-Economic Empowerment activities including basketry, catering services, Village Savings and Loaning (VSL), cereals sale, agribusiness and detergents production. The groups also receive a one-off grant to help boost their businesses and improved income generation, with the grants vs profits generated represented as follows:
General issues affecting the women are also addressed, including but not limited to land inheritance and succession, wife inheritance, mental health, access to basic needs and internal family disputes.
Survivors of Sexual Gender Based Violence (SGBV) often face stigma and discrimination in society hence preventing them from living a wholesome life. To end the stigma, we provide a safe space for women and girls who have been affected by sexual violence to share their experiences and support one another. We initiated Sexual Gender Based Violence prevention and
response and documented the cases for easy follow ups. Through group therapy sessions we give them opportunities to voice their thoughts and feelings. STADA actively sensitizes community members (both male and female) alongside school-going children (school outreaches) and also runs safe spaces where the survivors meet and share their views concerning SGBV.
Objectives