Samburu Women Trust (SWT) is an indigenous women-led organisation whose mission is to champion the rights of women and girls among the pastoralists’ communities in Kenya. The organisation is concerned with addressing deep-rooted retrogressive cultural practices like early forced marriages, female genital mutilation, girl child beading, and spousal beatings which are routinely carried out, despite recent constitutional, administrative, policy and legislative advancement for the promotion and protection of the rights of women and girls in Kenya. Two key studies conducted in 2012 – A silent sacrifice – and a follow up in 2015 – The Unspoken vice in Samburu Community – provides concrete recommendation on how to address these challenges in which the proposed project is based upon.

The Usawa Dada project targets three counties where these practices are most predominant, namely Isiolo, Samburu, and Marsabit.  The project expects that community perceptions change by encouraging more female participation in decision-making and eliminating practices that harm women and at the same time enhances the capacity of women to take up leadership positions in society. SWT’s work is informed by first hand experiences of the founders and lived experiences of fellow women and girls among the Samburu community.

The founders felt personally challenged to do something to bring to an end institutionalised violation of rights of women and girls among their pastoralist communities. The organisation positions itself as the champion of human rights for women and girls, facilitator for the amplification of the voices of women and girls, and supporter of victims and survivors of retrogressive cultural practices.

“For a long time, the women could not stand in a meeting to say anything. A woman was required to hold a grass as she rose to speak to depict how low she is. Today if a woman is asked to speak, you confidently rise and do so on your feet. We are also now aware of the constitution and our rights in it. We know that our girls should be in school and not subjected to FGM. We have no stress of many things as before, and we can plan for our future development’. Mrs. Salante Lemburkash, Chairlady of Memirlosho cultural Women village 

This story of Salante was the norm for other women in Samburu.  The influencing project by Samburu Women’s Trust directly addressed the community needs and issues of concerns. In the overall project design, the activities seem to understand the  underlying  issues  that  other  projects  seem  to  have  skirted,  placing emphasis on the nuances in the community culture behind the low status of the indigenous women in the community.  

A realisable change has been noted in relation to changed community perceptions to allow women participation in decision making process. Through stakeholders’ forums held during the project, it is evident that the community has gradually recognised the role of women and their importance in participation in decision making processes. This has gradually led to reduction in number of women and girls subjected to Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs) such as forced marriages, teenage pregnancies, child beading and other related harmful practice. 

During  the  project,  SWT reported that  the  development  of  an  anti-child beading policy is timely since the community is getting in to transition of an  existing  Morans  (youth)  age  set  who  are  graduating  to  junior  elders and  another  age  set  of  new  Morans is  upcoming  in  September  2019, these actually might raise an alarm of rising cases of child beading in the community as a result of an emerging new generation.  

The   leadership   programme   was   designed   and   delivered   in   a   multi-stakeholder approach involving political leaders, the clergy as well as teachers. As a result, members of these groups took part as facilitators of some   of   the   SWT   forums   and   meetings   including   the   mentorship programmes. The overall result of the activity is that the voice of women is today more respected by the elders.  The  empowerment  model  of  the initiative  enabled  the  women  taking  part  in  the  project  to  learn  and appreciate  their  rights.  Many of them recalled that the women are now elect leaders of their own choice without coercion.