Nairobi Focused Women & Youth Initiative

SEMA | High School Sponsorships | Scouting in Kenya

SEMA – (Mapenzi bila chuki), which translates to Speak Out — ( Love without hate) —is the fifth pillar in the Kenya Gender-Based Violence Partnership (KGBVP) program. It seeks to change attitudes and prevent stereotypical thinking around gender issues, facilitate behavior change by overcoming negative gender norms and advocate for policies that promote gender inclusion in the communities, campuses and secondary schools. SEMA is an awareness-raising and policy change platform, encouraging youth to take a stand in their communities and speak out against GBV.

Recognizing that friends and intimate partners perpetrate the vast majority of GBV incidents, the approach “Mapenzi Bila Chuki” or “Love without Hate” is a strategic message to this population.

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SEMA Outreach Strategy:

SEMA seeks to change individual and corporate behaviors pertaining to GBV through two distinct strategies:

Raising awareness about GBV through:

  • Youth Sensitizations: SEMA offers informational and engaging GBV sensitization workshops.
  • Football (Soccer): GBV messaging is incorporated during football games, football practice and other events targeting community youth.
  • Digital Campaign: The youth receive messaging on GBV-related issues and are able to engage in community dialogue about the subject through different social channels, e.g., Facebook, Twitter, or the SEMA website.
  • SEMA Concerts and Events: Talent-based sensitization events occur every year. These events promote positive messaging against gender-based violence and engages local student talent in both visual and musical arts. SEMA uses the youth’s talents and skills to create activists for social change.
  • Public Campaign: SEMA was part of the core working group that organized the first-ever Women’s Run in Kenya for the protection of women and children against gender-based violence and continues to share more information in public platforms.

Educational and Community Structural Policy Changes

  • Student-Led Strategies: SEMA advocates for attitude, behavioral, and policy change on campuses relying on student-led strategies that are tailored towards each university’s needs.
  • SEMA Mobile Application: SEMA is working toward establishing a youth-friendly mobile application to raise awareness of GBV as well as provide survivors a means of identifying their location, any immediate needs, and receive a response for referral.
  • SEMA Mentorship Program: We will be launching the SEMA Mentorship Program, which will link up university and secondary school students for one-on-one mentorship.

Milestones, Achievements & Impact

  • Changed attitudes among the youth around issues of gender.
  • Improved behaviors among youth in relation to GBV
  • Reduced incidence of GBV cases among youth
  • Increased involvement among youth in GBV-prevention initiatives
  • Advanced and enforced gender-inclusion policies
  • Improved community compliance of gender policies

SEMA has trained more than 800,000 scouts on gender awareness by providing tools and encouragement to become pioneers of change.

Road to Sustainability (Current Needs)

  • Expand sensitization trainings on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) across the country
  • More online opportunities for youth engagement
  • Documentation of awareness creation sessions

Dandora

  • About 3,000-5,000 people from Dandora, work directly on the trash dump that is controlled by gangs
  • Families scavenge the dumpsite for food and recyclables.
  • Most children end up joining the gangs as a means of survival.
  • High cases of Gender based violence, child abuse, crime and drug

Scholarship Beneficiaries

Looking forward

  • Completion of school building $ 45,000.
  • Completion of women’s Housing Project $ 60,000.
  • Scholarships for High school students $ 8,000 Annually.
  • Trained over 2,000,000 youths on gender equality
  • All Scouts (over 1,800,000) trained on GBV issues and prevention
  • 100 High school scholarships
  • Trained 100 women on economic empowerment

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