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Africa | Kenya | Culture

Inside the Umoja community in Kenya where women rule — and men are banned

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In a part of Kenya where women are often culturally regarded as second-class citizens, there is a village where women rule. Samburu is an extremely rural part of Kenya where there is rampant poverty and unemployment. The infant mortality rate is over 35 percent. It's hard enough to be a woman in Samburu, but without a child there, you are regarded as nothing, reports CBS News' Debora Patta. Diana Lekanta proved her worth by having three children – including 6-month-old baby Tau. Like so many women in African countries, where there is poverty, children are your riches. It can come at
Africa | Kenya | Entrepreneurship

US opens Nairobi entrepreneurship hub for women techies, innovators

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The US government Wednesday unveiled an entrepreneurship hub in Nairobi specifically targeting women techies and innovators. The innovation space dubbed Women’s Entrepreneurial Centres of Resources, Education, Access, and Training for Economic Empowerment (WECREATE) is a project of the US Department of State. WECREATE Kenya now joins similar research centres in Pakistan, Cambodia and Zambia – with a key mission to empower women and promote entrepreneurship. “Women entrepreneurs are integral to stable and thriving formal economies, but often face disproportionate ba
Africa | Kenya | Activism

​MEET THE NUN DETERMINED TO END FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION

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Sister Ephigenia Gachiri is one bad ass chick, but she doesn't think of herself that way and flinches when you call her that. Like a lot of the Catholic nuns I have met and interviewed over the years, Ephigenia, whose friends call her Ephi, is modest about the fact that she is literally changing the world and the lives of thousands of young girls. In person she is warm, compassionate, and assertive. She hugged me and kissed me on both cheeks the first time we met before insisting I eat some snacks — homemade fried dough. We had a lot to talk about, she told me, and I might get hungry. "
Africa | Kenya | Business

How Maasai women in Kenya are helping to make your cosmetics

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It’s a day-long drive from Kenya's capital Nairobi to Twala in Laikipia County. The last 50 miles is along a dusty road, and then you arrive at the farm of the Twala Cultural Manyatta. It’s oasis-like, and the moment you enter the gate, the fresh smell of greenery strikes a contrast with the aridity you leave behind. Even more striking for me are the two dozen Maasai women lined up in front of the mud wall of their compound, bedecked in brightly colored beaded jewelry. The second my car door opens, they break into song. I had inquired how much press they’ve received. “Not much,
Africa | Kenya | Economy

Kenya’s Water Women

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Across the world, almost 1.2bn people live in areas where water is physically scarce and this has an enormous impact on the quality of life. Without clean water, communities suffer from recurrent diarrhoea and other debilitating or fatal diseases which, together with the time spent going to collect it, means a significant amount of time for education and employment is lost. Collectively, women in 25 countries in sub-Saharan Africa spend at least 16 million hours each day collecting drinking water. So, how could things be different? In this film we head to the western Kenyan town of
Africa | Kenya | Activism

She Couldn’t Save Herself From Female Genital Mutilation But She Saved Hundreds Of Others

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Agnes Pareyio made a promise to her best friend from boarding school: She would not undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) when she went back to her village in Eastern Kenya for summer vacation. When she got there, however, she saw that her mother had already begun to prepare for the coming-of-age ritual. Her whole village turned up to partake in a massive celebration. When Pareyio realized the festivities signaled her time had come to be cut, she told her mother that she refused. “Then my mom went crazy,”Pareyio said in an interview in her office in Narok, Kenya. “She was screami
Africa | Kenya | Leadership

Women empowerment no longer an alternative but mandate for Kenya, says Devolution CS Anne Waiguru

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Devolution Cabinet Secretary Anne Waiguru says women empowerment is no longer an alternative in Kenya but a mandate. She said gender equality and the realisation of women’s and girls’ rights are fundamental for achieving human rights, peace and security and sustainable development and must be central to the Post-2015 Development Agenda. Waiguru told a meeting of women in Nairobi it is exciting to see opportunities for women to advance socially and professionally, expanding in Africa and globally, thereby opening up opportunities for women to influence their societies.
Africa | Kenya | Activism

The village where men are banned

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Jane says she was raped by three men wearing Gurkha uniforms. She was herding her husband’s goats and sheep, and carrying firewood, when she was attacked. “I felt so ashamed and could not talk about it to other people. They did terrible things to me,” says Jane, her eyes alive with pain. She is 38 but looks considerably older. She shows me a deep scar on her leg where she was cut by stones when she was pushed to the ground. In a quiet, hesitant voice she continues her story. “I eventually told my husband’s mother that I was sick, because I had to explain the injuries and my depres
Africa | Kenya | Politics

Kenya signs deal to advance gender parity

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The Kenyan government on Wednesday signed a joint communique with China, Denmark and Mexico to advance gender equality in line with international declarations. Anne Waiguru, Cabinet Secretary for Devolution and Planning, said the communique, dubbed "Working Towards Safeguarding the Beijing Declaration and Post 2015 Gender Agenda", seeks to rejuvenate women empowerment.
Africa | Kenya | Agriculture

Kenyan Women Are Quietly Revolutionizing Farming.. And The Government’s Noticing

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For people in central Kenya who are trying to live off the land, the challenges are many as the region is not known for its agriculture-friendly conditions. But, thanks to the work of an organization working to spread innovative farming techniques, that could be changing -- and women are at the forefront of the quiet revolution. As the Thomson Reuters Foundation reported in a story last month, the Kenyan arm of GROOTS (Grassroots Organisations Operating Together in Sisterhood) is working to help women take up sack farming in order to both provide for their families and generate income by gro
Africa | Kenya | Activism

Susan Mboya-Kidero and her passion for women empowerment

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One thing you maybe didn’t know about Susan Mboya-Kidero is that she values her privacy, very much. But what cannot be hidden is her passion for women empowerment, something she has dedicated herself to almost her entire life. And the fruits her work were evident in August 2013, when she was appointed President of The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation, where she is now implementing the 5By20 programme meant to empower five million women in the company’s value chain by 2020. She is also the Coca-Cola’s Group director for Women’s Economic Empowerment for Eurasia and Africa.
Africa | Kenya | Business

Woman of many firsts about to call it quits from corporation board

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In a country where women directors are a rarity on company boards, Mrs Nelius Wanjiru Kariuki can easily claim to be a trailblazer. The confident gait as she strides into her office and the unmistakable aura of authority partly tell the story of how she has successfully steered an organisation worth more than Sh85 billion for more than a decade. And when she retires as chair of the Kenya Reinsurance board next Friday, Mrs Kariuki, 64, says there will be no doubt the corporation is in a better place than she found it and the case for more female directors in boards has been strengthened.
Africa | Kenya | Business

Maasai women are the new solar warriors of Africa

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The Maasai are a semi-nomadic pastoral tribe spread across Kenya and Tanzania, and globalization has not been kind to them. Vulnerable to wildlife that steal their livestock and powerless after the sun goes down, many Maasai often have to walk many kilometers just to charge their phones. But a new project spearheaded by Green Energy Africa has brought solar energy to 2,000 homes in Naiputa county alone, and put new power into the hands of women who sell affordable solar installations. Green Energy Africa started the 7-month Women Entrepreneurship in Renewable Energy Project (WEREP) in Septe
Africa | Kenya | Politics

Women MPs threaten suit over gender rule

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Women MPs may move to court to challenge the publication of the Constitution of Kenya (Amendment) Bill that seeks to postpone indefinitely the enactment of the two-thirds gender rule. The Bill was introduced in the National Assembly last week by Ainabkoi MP Samuel Chepkonga, who also chairs the Justice and Legal Affairs Committee. But the MPs under the Kenya Women Parliamentary Association want the Bill withdrawn. Article 27 of the constitution requires that no gender should have more than two thirds of public positions, either elected or appointed. The publication of the Bill

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