A New Grant to Nurture Leadership Skills of Young Girls with Disabilities

For two years, from October 2022 to October 2024, as the Kenya Network of Women and Girls and Disabilities (Network), we have been implementing a leadership program supported by the Ford Foundation. We sought to address gaps that exist within leadership and governance spaces for women with disabilities. 

Indeed, strengthening the leadership skillsets of women with disabilities goes a long way in supporting them to occupy leadership and decision-making spaces where they remain underrepresented. We reported diverse successes. Among others, we have seen strengthened collaboration between women with disabilities and county government departments that included the signing of memoranda of collaboration, inclusion in local community committees, and an increase in self-confidence, as reported by the women with disabilities in the program.

We are thus highly encouraged and inspired to receive a new grant; 2024-2026) from the Ford Foundation that intends to build on the impact we have recorded in the past two years. With this new grant, Network members shall work with girls with disabilities in primary and secondary schools, their teachers, as well as parents and community members, to support them in starting an early leadership trajectory. Each activity under the grant will work towards increasing the confidence of the young girls with disabilities in being leaders, as well as working with parents and teachers to support the young girls with disabilities to engage in civic participation.

In the previous grant, we worked with 40 champions from 4 counties, namely Kakamega, Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu, who are women with disabilities and actively playing a key role in their communities. We shall, therefore, make connections between the young girls with disabilities in schools and the Champions to create connections and advance intergenerational conversations among them.

Mentors
We are further excited that in the 40 champions, the young girls will have mentors to look up to. By this, we aim to form a strong chain of women with disabilities actively engaging in their communities and thus working to strengthen their representation in leadership and governance spaces. We are intentional especially to include girls with intellectual disabilities as well as those who are Deaf to address further marginalization that they may be facing in their schools and communities.



Additionally, the new grant shall support the Network to come up with a refined work plan and streamline our activities and how we complement the various activities conducted by different members within the Network. This will go a long way in consolidating the Network's strengths and reaching out to more women and girls with disabilities to strengthen their voices within Kenya and beyond.

With the young girls with disabilities, we are looking forward to introducing powerful and engaging ways to support them in their leadership trajectory. This includes leadership development to ensure that girls with disabilities can become voices of change within their communities; promoting self-determination by helping them set and achieve personal and civic goals; supporting them in building confidence through mentorship and skill-building activities; involving families, teachers, and the broader community to create a supportive environment; encouraging allyship between girls with and without disabilities to break down social barriers and foster inclusivity; addressing critical aspects of self-care, hygiene, emotional wellness, and self-perception as well as providing pathways and resources for the young girls with disabilities to succeed in the goals they set on leadership.

“We are starting an exciting phase of implementation. While our communities are not fully accepting and fully welcoming to young girls with disabilities, we are here to remind young girls with disabilities that they belong and they can be leaders in their communities,” said Alice Munala, the Network Leadership Committee Chair.

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