In Kenya, girls are disproportionately affected by harmful cultural practices, such as child marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). FGM is prevalent in Kajiado County with 46% of girls aged 15-19 years reporting that they have undergone FGM. This is four times higher than the national level (11.4%) (KDHS, 2014). FGM is closely tied to child marriage, teenage pregnancies, and high dropout rates for girls in schools in Kenya. To tackle these challenges, The Centre for the Study of Adolescence (CSA) funded by Rise Up based at the Public Health Institute in the US has been implementing a program dedicated to girls’ empowerment, known as Girls Voices Initiative (GVI). CSA has equipped girl leaders, from Kajiado West Sub- County, who have gone through sexuality education with additional skills in public speaking and decision-maker education, while creating spaces at the local, County and National level for these girls to amplify their voices and fight for girls’ rights.

The UKRI GCRF Accelerating Achievement for Africa’s Adolescents Research (Accelerate) Hub is a collaboration of researchers who work with policy makers, NGOs and adolescents to discover which combinations of services/ programmes can most efficiently and cost-effectively help adolescents achieve their potential across multiple life domains and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).In Kenya CSA is working with a team of researchers from  Oxford university and cape town university to establish a Teen Advisory Group in Kisumu. Teen Advisory Groups aim to generate evidence to understand the needs, challenges and contexts of young people in Kenya.

The SHG Approach is a rights-based approach which views poverty as the denial of rights and poverty alleviation as a process of reclaiming one’s rights. Given the multi-dimensional nature of poverty, however, the SHG Approach puts equal emphasis on the goals of economic, social and political empowerment. In order to achieve these goals, it offers a framework and guidance for establishing a ‘People’s Institution ‘which provides an environment of trust and cooperation in which people come to realise they are able to help themselves to achieve the economic, social and political goals that they themselves define. Since 2019, CSA has deployed this methodology by focusing on the poorest women and their children and then broadening the focus to entire families and communities in Mumias sub County of Kakamega County in western Kenya.

CSA has received an advocacy award from her long time partner PAI to influence policy makers at high level government spaces for increased support on CSE, galvanize support from Civil Society Groups to challenge and address harmful SRH policies and to sustain and strengthen capacities of youth champions for active engagement in CSE and AYSRH Advocacy. This Action is building on previous work funded by PAI to address the effects of the global Gag rule in Kenya.