Centre for Rights Education and Awareness(CREAW) announced a new phase of Kibera Gender-Based Violence (GBV) Outreach project which was originally launched in 2009 by the Prime Minister Hon. Raila Odinga and is now being supported by USAID/Kenya.
Through this project the people of Kibera have been able to get aid and psychological support of survivors of sexual and gender based violence, and numbers believed to have reached up to 3000 women. “The Kibera office is a child born of a dream”, Executive Director, Wangechi Wachira reflected, “And it was always our ambitions that, like any child, the office would grow and that there would be exciting times ahead building a greater and more effective organization.” However after a phase one project evaluation, CREAW identified a need to strengthen the existing access to justice models by putting in place in place measures to ensure survivors of gender-based violence were able to conveniently access a full range of services.
The second phase of GBV project will pioneer a one stop shop case management system. The cutting edge approach will link survivors to all essential services within Kibera to ensure those affected by sexual and gender-based violence are able to quickly and conveniently obtain legal aid, psychological support, medical treatment, access to law enforcement intervention and access to rescue shelters in the community.
In speaking about the organisation’s goals to reach out to more community members, Ms Wachira affirmed that CREAW will connect with male champions who will lead from the front in speaking up to say that freedom from sexual and gender-based violence is not about women gaining power over men, but over themselves.
Ann Njogu, CREAW founder and the current executive Chair, gave thanks to all the members of the community awarding certificates and plagues to those individuals and organizations in Kibera who have been instrumental in supporting the fight against gender-based violence.
The chief Guest, Mrs Judy Gration, wife of the US Ambassador to Kenya Scott Gration and avid proponent for women rights, delivered the keynote address. Mrs Gration described that her passion for women’s rights work is rooted in her childhood when she saw her mother raise her and her sister alone after the passing of her father. In closing she said, “The government of Kenya has an important and mandatory rolw in addressing gender-based violence and continued that the United States Government will try to support that work. Then she declared that she will extend her personal support in the fighting against sexual and gender-based violence. Mrs Gration also spent time speaking privately with Kibera Community members and gender-based violence survivors.
CREAW Deputy Director, Michael Wachira, added, “We need to thank USAID/Kenya for its commitment to fighting sexual and gender based violence and creating transformative change in Kibera.”