Kenya Network of Women and Girls with Disabilities

Women with disabilities from pastoralist communities reflect on climate change and their role in changing the narrative A screen grab from an animation made by Mariam    We visit Isiolo County in the backdrop of recent banditry attacks that have escalated insecurity in the   region. It has been recognized widely that banditry heavily impacts women in different ways. The   conversations that we hold with women with disabilities on this day, not only show how violence such as banditry impacts their lives, but importantly its relationship with climate change.  The women with disabilities see interconnections between climate change and violence, because as they state, ‘with depleted grazing grounds and drying rivers, as a result of climate changes, communities are at war with each other.’  As such, in the broad context, the women with disabilities note that to address the ravages of climate change will in one way or another address escalating violence...

Ramadhana is a young, disabled, university student. She recently vied for a leadership position in the University Student Union (Women Students Welfare Association). ‘We must be bold enough to go for these positions,” says Ramadhana, conviction in her voice. While she did not win the position she vied for, Ramadhana mentioned two other roles that she took up at the University, adding that she believes that leadership is not just in positions and titles but in everyday living.  Ramadhana is one among tens of students that we have engaged with in the past two years in a project where we sought to nurture the leadership skills of young girls and women with disabilities in institutions of learning. Whereas we centered young girls/women with disabilities, our project also engaged their teachers and parents. Considering not just our lived experiences as women with disabilities, we know the key role our families and communities play in how we acquire and exercise leadership. In a learning...