Kenya Network of Women and Girls with Disabilities

This blog post is authored by two young disability leaders that we work with at Network level as part of work that we are doing to advance and strengthen intergenerational leadership. By Vilda Atieno and Mirriam Chelang’at We have recently had an opportunity to represent the Kenya Network of Women and Girls with Disabilities at a Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) validation meeting convened by the Wangu Kanja Foundation.  The meeting brought together a diverse group of stakeholders to review and validate key findings and recommendations of a piece of research aimed at strengthening SGBV prevention and response efforts in Kenya. The discussions were intersectional in nature, acknowledging that survivors experience violence differently depending on various social and structural factors. A significant part of the engagement centered on the lived experiences of survivors of SGBV in Kenya. These conversations were deeply sensitive, but the organizers created a safe and respectful...

The 79th Session of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) is being held from 9th to 25th February 2026 at Palais Wilson in Geneva. From 9th to 10th February, with the support of the International Disability Alliance (IDA), Elizabeth Mang’eni had the privilege of representing the Kenya Network of Women and Girls with Disabilities (the Network) during this session. This has been the culmination of a two-year process, during which, together with the United Disabled Persons of Kenya (UDPK), we have engaged in an advocacy process that has enabled us to connect our local and national-level advocacy with global advocacy.Please read more about this process here: https://advocacynetwork.blogspot.com/2023/03/how-we-are-using-un-human-rights.html .  As a Network, we are honoured that we could get to present issues affecting women and girls with disabilities at this global platform.  On the first day, the team of Elizabeth, together with Sarah Muthoni and Maryanne ...

  As the year begins, we are honored and excited to announce a new grant from DRF/DRAF   to support our work in advancing and strengthening the leadership of women with disabilities in our communities. Context One of the really important milestones that we marked as the disability community in Kenya last year was the signing into law of the new Persons with Disabilities Act 2025.    It is a piece of legislation that aligns with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) at the global level, the African Disability Protocol (ADP) at the regional level, and the Constitution of Kenya 2010 at the national level.   It is great that it speaks to issues of women with disabilities, as well as youth with disabilities, among other groups. We recognize that there is a lot needed for the law to be translated into practice. Among others, it is advisable that target communities understand what is in the law and, secondly, know how to claim the...

Why the toilet? You might be tempted to ask. For others, it may not be the first place that comes to mind when they leave home; when they meet someone in a hotel; in a school, a public place, literally everywhere the toilet is found. But for many women with disabilities, the toilet becomes an extremely important place. It is a place where a woman with a disability’s dignity is upheld; or it is the place where her dignity is stripped away, completely. Not just any toilet. But an accessible toilet.  How did this conversation actually start? Remember a while back we wrote about Jane who had travelled for over 15 hours but because there was no cabin wheelchair inflight, using the toilet became one of her worst nightmares. She was asked, ‘must you use the toilet?’  Read here: https://advocacynetwork.blogspot.com/2025/07/flying-as-woman-with-disability-and.html This time round, this is how it began. Rose narrated about this man who was a guide to his wife who is blind and had to get...

With the support of Womankind Worldwide through the  Her Voice Fund (Cycle 4), at the network level, we collectively marked this year’s 16 Days of Activism against GBV across different countries where our members are situated.  Our member, Mildred Omino, co-authored a powerful blog that speaks to these realities.  With the global theme , “ End Digital Violence Against All Women and Girls,”   we remain alert that digital spaces, once envisioned as platforms for empowerment, are increasingly becoming sites of harassment, cyberbullying, surveillance, exploitation, and exclusion.  Women and girls with disabilities face even higher risks due to intersecting discrimination.R ead the full article on this link:  https://yoursay.plos.org/2025/12/no-woman-left-behind-ending-digital-violence-against-women-and-girls-with-disabilities/ Here is an excerpt: While TFGBV affects women globally, women and girls with disabilities are disproportion...

Early in the year, together with United Disabled Persons of Kenya and with technical support from the International Commission of Jurists, Africa Regional Programme, we made a submission to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD Committee) on the draft guidelines on addressing multiple and intersectional forms of discrimination against women and girls with disabilities. Our submission can be read online on this link: https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/2025/call-written-submissions-draft-guidelines-addressing-multiple-and Our submission was largely informed by the feedback provided in a forum we convened in September 2025. The forum brought together twenty-five (25) women and girls with disabilities who shared their lived experiences of discrimination across different areas of their lives.  Diverse experiences Our submission describes these diverse experiences where women and girls with disabilities are exposed to multiple and intersecting forms of d...