Special Kenyan Project

In today’s world, the rights of women and girls are violated at home, school, work and indeed every conceivable space. Their rights are violated by fellow women, men including intimate partners and other family members. All these violations continue to happen despite international, regional and national commitments made by governments to protect women and advance their rights.

In order to address violations of women and children rights happening in Africa generally and Kenya in particular, Women for Justice in Africa (WOJA) was started in 2006 to make gender justice a reality for African women. Since its inception, WOJA has been working with women in Kenya with a special focus in Kibera, the largest slum in Africa. Through their work with many NGO’s and organizations they became aware of an alarming trend within many existing programs:

The existence of far too many participants who, when trained in programs to help improve their lives, did not use those skills when they returned to their home environments.

Three explanations began to appear more often than not: (1) deep down, they did not truly believe their life mattered, (2) they had somehow committed a grievous sin in the eyes of God and were being punished, thus their life was simply to accept and endure, and (3) that in the end, nothing would change.

In their efforts to address this challenge Women for Justice in Africa entered into partnership in January 2010 with Leader Development Group (LDG) whose programs emphasized authentic leadership skills, new ways of thinking, new possibilities for creating sustainable change, being accountable and leading from personal core values in a difficult and changing world. By April they were ready to implement an Empowerment and Self-leadership program created by LDG for women and youth living in Kibera and, in time, all of Kenya and East Africa.

80 women were chosen to come to the initial training sessions and 80 women were forever changed.

To get a sense of what happened and the transformation that took place for the women, please click or copy and paste the following link into your browser and watch a short 10 minute video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqjNsBrUcqw

If you would like to be a part of expanding the Empowerment and Leadership program in Kenya and Africa please send an e-mail to David Bernard-Stevens, President of Leader Development Group at: David@leaderdevelopmentgroup.com

We cannot lead anyone until first learning to lead ourselves. In order to lead ourselves we must know our core values, have a sense of purpose, and make choices that are in alignment with both our values and purpose. And finally, in order to change our lives and future one must believe they can. And with that, our lives and those who we will encounter each day will forever be changed…