WHO WE ARE
Given the year-in, year-out depressing statistics placing Nyanza at the bottom of almost all public health indicators (HIV, teen pregnancy and subsequent school dropout, gender-based violence, FGM), Nyanza Initiative for Girls Education and Empowerment (NIGEE) was conceived as a one-stop intervention to address these plagues.
In 2011, Prof. Kawango Agot, the Founder of NIGEE, sent a distress call to a handful visionary staff working with Impact Research & Development Organization (IRDO), a local organization implementing HIV/AIDS interventions in Nyanza Province, as well as a few of her friends, and with that NIGEE was born.
The guiding vision of NIGEE is to localize resource mobilization. We believe we should not always look to the West to fund every project Kenyans initiate; indeed, we believe Kenyans should address most of the problems facing fellow Kenyans, because we know Kenyans have the resources to do so but have normalized reliance on the West
Our Mission, Vision & Values
Nyanza Initiative for Girls' Education and Empowerment envisions a society and a future of self-determining and self-reliant girls and women.
Donation Scale
Achievements
Partnerships
Beneficiaries
Counties we work in
Our interventions target vulnerable adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) between 12 – 24 years and their children, where applicable, in four counties of Nyanza region: Kisumu, Migori, Siaya and Homabay.
We implement in these counties because several national surveys have consistently reported them as having some of the worst indicators that impact negatively on AGYW. For example, the region records the highest teen pregnancy (22.2%), highest HIV prevalence (15.1%), second highest prevalence of female genital mutilation (FGM) (32.4%), lowest age at sexual debut (16.5 years), second lowest age at marriage (18.9 years), and third-highest physical and sexual violence against women and girls (33.5%) (Kenya Demographic Health Survey, 2014).
The latest National HIV Survey (KENPHIA, 2020) also reported that the same four counties still have the highest HIV prevalence nationally: 19.6% in Homabay, 17.5% in Kisumu, 15.3% in Siaya and 13% in Migori, compared to 4.9% nationally.
Interventions
Education:
NIGEE raises funds through local businesses, donor funding and other fundraising initiatives, including crowd funding, to provide a second chance to girls who dropped out of school due to teen pregnancy, FGM, child marriage, HIV positivity, being physically challenged or living in abject poverty, an opportunity to resume schooling and improve their chances of living a fulfilled adult life. NIGEE considers the right to education as a bridge to other rights, as education gives girls and young women choices and the power to decide over their own lives and bodies.
Empowerment:
To equip AGYW with skills necessary for them to be employed, we offer vocational skills training on hairdressing, dressmaking and computer studies. We also train on job readiness skills (interview skills, curriculum vitae and cover letter writing skills workplace conflict resolution skills), savings, loans and investments.
Advocacy:
NIGEE is implementing girl-led multi-component advocacy model that targets the girl in school, the girl at home, the girl in the community and the girl herself. We advocate against child marriage, FGM, sexual and gender-based violence, economic exclusion while advocating for girl and youth friendly sexual reproductive and health services. Through advocacy, we give girls the platform to voice their views, claim their rights and demand change. We involve the men in advocacy, recognizing that they are critical in spearheading social norm changes and respect for girls’ rights within the communities.
We also have a safe space where we shelter rescued girls as their cases are being determined. We are a member of two international advocacy bodies: Girls Not Brides - the global partnership to end child marriage and The Girl Generation - a global movement against FGM. We are also part on regional CSO advocacy networks that champion the rights and wellbeing of AGYW.
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE (ORGANOGRAM)
Nyanza Initiative for Girls' Education & Empowerment is an organisation that envisions a society and a future of self-determining and self-reliant girls and women.
