Speech

U.S. Mission to Kenya Activities to Eliminate Violence against Women

Address by U.S. Ambassador to Kenya Michael Ranneberger

Nairobi, Kenya  | Sunday, November 25, 2007

On the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25, I thought it might be useful to recap US mission programs promoting this worthy and important goal. I have made gender equity one of the mission’s top priorities in Kenya and have spoken frequently and forcefully on violence against women and issues of gender equity. Most recently, I have publicly and repeatedly condemned violence directed at woman political candidates standing for office during this year’s national elections. We are also funding programs that are training women political leaders to give them the tools to compete in the political arena on a more equitable footing.

While the Government of Kenya continues to make progress on violence against women generally, numerous barriers remain, including loopholes in matrimonial rights, a gender-averse justice dispensation system and customary laws grounded in patriarchal traditions. Women still suffer from limits in property ownership and inheritance, public and political representation, and access to education. Sexual violence is a serious issue. The mission funds projects aimed at reducing such violence and eliminating the practice of female genital mutilation. I believe our programs are having a positive impact in reducing violence against women and advancing the cause of gender equity in Kenya.

Protecting Women’s Right to Run for Public Office

The mission has been active in promoting the right of women to run for public office. Unfortunately in Kenya, in the run-up to the 2007 general elections, women candidates for political party nominations have been attacked and/or intimidated. In the wake of one such attack, I visited the victim at bedside and gave strongly worded remarks condemning the attack and reaffirming the right of women (and of all Kenyans) to stand for political office free of intimidation and violence. The remarks were widely covered in the Kenyan media and generated public censure of the attack.

USAID’s Democracy and Governance Program is funding a political parties strengthening program implemented by the National Democratic Institute. The program emphasizes the role of women in Kenyan political parties and seeks to make parties operations more transparent so women can compete on a level playing field. Over the past year, the program has also provided leadership training for 204 women party members.

The USAID Health Program is supporting community-based interventions to reduce the incidence of female genital mutilation/cut (FGM/C), a practice that adversely affects women’s reproductive health. Special focus has been placed on cooperation with Muslim scholars to educate their communities that female genital mutilation is not a religious obligation. The Mission will continue to work with teachers to reach a larger proportion of affected communities, especially the children they teach, to reduce the rate of FGM/C in Kenya. In other areas of the country, we are funding programs that promote an alternative coming of age rite to take the place of FGM/C. In addition, the Democracy and Human Rights Fund is currently funding Cherish Others, a civil society organization, to implement an anti-FGM/C education program aimed at school children in the Transmara Region of Rift Valley Province. This program envisions reaching approximately 600 young women and 30 village leaders.

Kenya has joined three other African countries (Benin, Zambia and South Africa) to work with us through the Women’s Justice and Empowerment Initiative to combat sexual violence and abuse against women. The $9.2 million allocated over three years will assist Kenya to implement the 2006 Sexual Offenses Act by providing better care and support to victims of sexual violence, increasing public awareness of the availability of legal remedies and care and support services, and strengthening the capacity of the legal system – from investigation through prosecution – to protect women from sexual violence and deter perpetrators of such offenses.

Supporting Women’s Property Rights

In Nyanza Province, the region with Kenya’s highest incidence of HIV infection and the largest number of AIDS-related deaths, women are often evicted from their homestead and stripped of all property when their husbands die. Many of these women are themselves infected with HIV/AIDS. This discrimination is practiced by Christians and Muslims alike. The USAID Women’s Property Ownership and Inheritance Rights Project assists widows previously evicted from their home to regain control over their family property. This program works through local tribal elders, who are highly respected, and advocates for women’s property rights. In some cases, the program supports legal costs for women seeking redress through the courts.

Increasing Incomes from Agriculture and Micro-Enterprises

The Mission realizes that reducing discriminatory access to credit is one method of empowering women and increasing gender equity. The USAID Economic Growth Program has contributed to women’s economic welfare by increasing their access to finance, markets and trade, and improved agricultural inputs and technologies. Currently women provide 80 percent of agricultural labor and manage 40 percent of Kenya’s smallholder farms, yet they own only one percent of agricultural land and access 10 percent of credit. USAID-supported micro-finance institutions increased the proportion of female loan recipients to 54 percent as of early 2007, compared with 46 percent in 2006 – a 17 percent increase. Our support to the Kenyan Woman Finance Trust has helped build its human resource and technological capacity, contributing to an outreach expansion to over 90,000 women country wide. In addition, the Mission’s long-term capacity support has allowed K-Rep to transform from a micro-finance institution to a full-service commercial bank in which women represent 45 percent of all credit recipients.

In addition there are multiple Mission initiatives which are increasing opportunities for women farmers. USAID programs helped extend credit to 400 women fish traders, thereby creating opportunities to grow their businesses. Another Mission business support activity, the Women’s Nutribusiness Project, supported 600 women in processing locally grown vegetables and cereals into organic infant weaning beverages for income generation and better infant nutrition. The product is currently popular in the local community and is sold in Nairobi’s leading supermarket chains.

Participatory Conservation of Natural Resources

The USAID/Kenya Natural Resources Management Program has enhanced women’s training and participation in community natural resource governance structures particularly in group ranch committees and water point management. In particular, exchange visits between the culturally sensitive Maasai pastoral communities in the north and those of the coastal communities have significantly contributed to enhanced gender awareness, improved attitudes and enhanced participation and performance of women in the program. Support has also been provided for women-only enterprises on beadwork and artifacts production, cultural centers, eco-tourism lodges, curio shops, aloe processing enterprises, honey, butterfly farming and hay baling activities.

USAID is among five donors supporting the ‘National Land Policy’ formulation process, which advocates joint ownership and equal inheritance rights.

Increasing Female Access to Education

Despite Kenya’s free primary education, boys retain a higher enrolment rate at 53 percent compared to 47 percent for girls, with greater disparity at university level (63 percent male and 37 percent female).

The Ambassador’s Girls Scholarship Program currently supports 3,000 girls. Of these, 25 percent are in secondary schools. In addition to the formal curriculum, the girls receive training on leadership and are taught to report any form of violence. Girls comprise over 70 percent of scholarship recipients at the university and middle level colleges under the PEPFAR Orphans and Vulnerable Scholarship Program. The USAID School infrastructure Program in North Eastern Province has provided toilets and sanitary facilities to girls in North Eastern primary schools. In addition, the Mission Education Program jointly supported the Gender and Education Policy with other development partners in the education sector. The program is also a member of the United Nations Girls Education Initiative (UNGEI).

Promoting International Market Access for Women

USAID/East Africa has identified the importance of ensuring that clear strategies are developed so that policies for gender equity are incorporated into current trends towards regional political and economic integration. To that end, cooperation between USAID/EA and the Common Market for East and South Africa (COMESA) on gender mainstreaming has culminated in the development of the COMESA Gender Policy, which recognizes the effects of trade on gender inequality in the region. A commitment has been made to implement this policy at the regional level and in all 18 member states. USAID/EA has also been at the forefront of advocating for a gender-sensitive program in agricultural research. Results to date demonstrate that gender focused and targeted strategies provide increased opportunities for both male and female farmers to benefit from improved agricultural technologies.

Regional Approaches: Promoting Interagency Cooperation on Addressing Violence Against Women           

USAID/EA commissioned a literature review on gender-based violence (GBV), in 21 countries in the east, central and southern African region, to tease out best practices in the protection and prevention of violence against women. These practices were highlighted in the joint USAID/EA and UNICEF/East and Southern Africa Regional Office Strategic Framework for the Prevention of and Response to GBV in the Region that are operational in participating missions in the region.

Integrating Violence against Women into Health Education and Care

Other USAID/EA activities to reduce GBV and exploitation include training health care providers to recognize and treat GBV, developing gender champions in refugee camps, and providing the Men as Partners (MAP) Program to truck drivers and youth along the major transport corridor that spans eight countries. In addition, the mission has supported the inclusion of GBV identification, counseling and treatment into pre-service curricula in 11 medical universities across the region and the development of a compendium of indicators for measuring progress in GBV programming. In all, 1039 people were trained to recognize and prevent GBV in the last year, including Muslim clerics. The USAID/EA Regional Outreach Addressing HIV through Development Strategies (ROADS) Project is also introducing programming to address GBV as a key HIV risk factor and critical barrier to counseling and testing, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, anti-retroviral therapy and other services. GBV activities are also linked with alcohol abuse programming, enlisting truck drivers, affected communities, and religious leaders. USAID/EA and UNAIDS co-funded a workshop with over 70 attendees from 15 African nations on HIV, alcohol and GBV as critical emerging issues. Lastly, USAID/EA convened the first ever meeting on traumatic gynecologic fistula as a consequence of sexual violence in conflict setting, attended by over 70 practitioners and activists representing nine countries.

USAID/EA promotes gender equitable programming in health. For example, providing TB diagnostic and treatment services to communities (CB-DOTS) so that women have better access to care. The ROADS Project and regional businesses have partnered to create an innovative job creation program to increase the capacity of women and older orphans for healthy decision making.

In 2007, ROADS launched it first private company employing almost 50 vulnerable women and older orphans under its ‘Job Creation as an HIV Prevention and AIDS Support Strategy’; two more companies will be launched in 2008 that will employ over 500. ROADS also encourages discussion of cultural norms around gender equity issues through its unique community ‘cluster model’, which unites over 600 local organizations along the transport corridors. Other health programs, such as Maternal, Child and Reproductive Health, address both men and women’s health needs so that participants and communities are able to effectively care for themselves and their families.

Conclusion

These programs demonstrate the many innovative and far-reaching ways the U.S. Mission to Kenya, in cooperation with our partner organizations, assists Kenya’s attempts to reduce violence against women and promote gender equity. In the coming year we will strengthen our efforts to eliminate violence against women and further leverage our resources to support gender equity.