Fun + Meaning2 = 2030 finals

Provision of Sanitary Towels to Girls Through Fun Sports and Mentorshipn Sports and Mentorship

Kenya has an estimated slum population of over 2 million. Recently there have been more arson attacks on 2 slums rendering worsening the lives of young girls who are already affected by the harsh living conditions. Young girls lack the basic necessities to enable them attend school and interact with peers during menstruation and majority withdraw from others as they see it as a penalty and not a course of nature. Most slum girls lack access to education due to reproductive health challenge and are disadvantaged as they may have no way out of the problem. Sanitary towels are too costly forcing them to use old clothing and tissue paper. Teachers as well face challenges keeping girls performance at par with boys. During menses time, most girls are shamed as everyone knows why they are absent lowering their self esteem. The regime has been lobbied to subsidize sanitary towels’ rate but and recently the law was enacted though yet to be actualized. The Mashujaa team plans to integrate fun to help solve this long term challenge by mobilizing young girls for talks and later on use fun to disseminate relevant and useful information to the girls. There were 2 sessions held in collaboration with the Kenya Scouts on 15th and 22nd October 2011. The morning sessions were purely dedicated to talks on different issues where one of Mashujaa team members had a ‘girl-talk’ session talking about reproductive health and relationship issues relating to the young girls. The day was a great success owing to the fact that it was a test phase. The hands on young women in development initiative is an extension of our fun sports activities from a hobby to a mobilization and advocacy tool for sanitary towels which would benefit the young girls. Mashujaa team plans to mobilize girls and young women to participate in sports activities mainly soccer, volleyball and other fun sports suitable for the girls. We shall approach possible development stakeholders to join in the initiative for more impact. Exchange visits with other girls’ teams will be done to allay any misconceptions about girls’ participation in fun sports and success stories shared. Mentorship sessions and competition will be held on quarterly basis by the selected volunteer mentors and competing teams. There shall be monitoring and evaluation of the project through the most significant change method and sharing of the same through various media including local media stations, new media e.g. Facebook, twitter and You Tube. The implementation will be carried out mainly by the team members, in collaboration with the corporates, state actors, non-state actors and slum-based schools.

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Fun + Meaning2 = 2030 semi finals

Mashujaa: Kushirikiana Kudumisha Maendeleo Kwa Wasichana (Hands On Young Women in Development)

Kenya has an estimated slum population of 2.2 million. Lately there have been arson attacks on slums rendering most homeless and young girls affected because of the harsh living conditions. Young girls lack the basic necessities to enable them attend school and interact with peers during menses and majority withdraw from others as they see it as a penalty and not a course of nature. Most slum girls lack access to education and are disadvantaged as they may have no way out of the problem. Sanitary towels are too costly forcing them to use old clothing and tissue paper. Teachers face challenges keeping girls performance at par with boys. During menses time, most girls are shamed as everyone knows why they are absent lowering their self esteem. The regime has been lobbied to subsidize sanitary towels’ rate but the law is not yet passed. This initiative is an extension of our sports activities from a hobby to a fundraising, mobilization and advocacy tool for sanitary towels. Mashujaa team plans to mobilize girls and young women to participate in sports activities mainly soccer, Volleyball and Netball. We shall approach possible development stakeholders to join in the initiative for more impact. Exchange visits with other girls’ teams will be done to allay any misconceptions about girls’ participation in sports and success stories shared. Mentorship sessions and competition will be held on quarterly basis by the selected volunteer mentors and competing teams. There shall be monitoring and evaluation of the project through the most significant change method and sharing of the same through various media including local media stations, facebook, twitter and You Tube. The implementation will be carried out mainly by the team members, in collaboration with the corporates, and informal slum-based schools.

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