A Gender Community Outreach for Girls Living in Vulnerable Contexts: Experiences from School Literacy Clubs in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya

Abstract

The Kenya Constitution (2010) has deliberately attempted to remedy the traditional exclusion ofwomen and has promoted their full involvement in every aspect of growth and development. It isindeed true that when women have the freedom to reach their full potential, families and byextension communities experience exponential growth. Despite such efforts by the Kenyangovernment, young girls in rural Kenya continue to suffer and endure, gender exploitation andchild labour due to poverty and lack of alternative means of livelihoods. Girls in some parts ofTharaka Nithi County suffer from poor access to education and health services caused by highpoverty levels. Such levels of poverty and the patriarchal systems are responsible for themarginalization of girls on matters health and education in favour of the boy child. This paperpresents the efforts made to empower girls in this context to voice their story through literacyclubs. Specifically, the paper discusses the girls’ use of literacy clubs to voice the challenges theyface in their educational pursuit, the use of literacy clubs to voice the nature of discrimination theyface and to empower and build their resilience. Data was collected from a sample of form one andtwo girls from five Sub-county schools in Tharaka Nithi County. The data collected was analysedqualitatively and the key themes in relation to the plight of girls in this context identified. Thepaper presents the research process, discusses the findings and key implications of the findings onthe emancipation of the girl child at the local as well as the global scene.