Blog
Vacancy – Trustee
We’re adding to our Board of Trustees! This role has the potential to become the chair or vice chair of trustees following an initial trial period. We currently have seven Trustees; six are based in the UK (NorthEast and London) and one is based in Australia. We are a small charity so our Trustees are involved operationally as well as in the traditional governance capacity of a Board member. Are you the right person for the role? You love what we are doing, you are genuinely interested, you are passionate about educating girls and women in Kenya You have governance…
Read moreAspire Scholarships Newsletter Autumn/Winter 2017
Celebrating Success! 19 girls in our Girls’ Support Groups graduated from primary school in November! We are incredibly proud that all of our members in standard eight were able to complete their primary education. All of the girls performed well in their exams and were rewarded with good grades, that will allow them all to progress to secondary school. Jane Odongo from Bongu Primary School was the highest achiever scoring a very impressive 350 marks. We expect Jane to enrol in a very good county level school in 2018. Replacing sponsorship with empowerment Due to the incredible success of our…
Read moreWhy we’re replacing our scholarships with agricultural projects
Over 50% of girls in Ndhiwa drop out of primary school before completion and even fewer progress on to secondary school; families struggle to pay school fees and boys’ education is often prioritised over girls. Team Kenya works in partnership with primary schools in Ndhiwa to create girl-friendly environments and develop teaching practices that help to improve access to quality education for all girls. At the moment, Team Kenya provides girls with scholarships, through our Aspire Scholarships programme to allow them to progress on to secondary school and further education, which is beyond the financial reach of their families. Time for a…
Read moreEmpowering women in Ndhiwa
Ndhiwa is a rural region in Kenya where the majority of the population is almost entirely dependent on subsistence farming. Over 63% live in extreme poverty and 50% of girls drop out of school before completion. Team Kenya has developed an agricultural demonstration site to deliver training to women that increases access to food, grows family incomes and improves access to primary and secondary school education for girls. Thanks to this programme, there are now more girls than boys completing primary school in our partner schools and every daughter of a trainee was able to go on to secondary school…
Read moreRaising Achievement in Ndhiwa Primary Schools
In Spring 2017, Team Kenya was delighted to receive a grant of £10,000 from the British and Foreign School Society (https://www.bfss.org.uk) to introduce new activities into our existing programmes in schools. The project, ‘Raising Achievement in Ndhiwa Primary Schools’, is funded for twelve months and aims to improve education for girls and boys in our four partner schools and more widely across the sub-county. The project is improving access to much-needed resources for teachers and children as well as training and mentoring for a Lead Teacher in each school. The Lead Teacher will then be supported to cascade her/his learning…
Read moreTeam Kenya Aspire Scholarships Newsletter
Celebrating Success! Last year we trained over 120 of our girls’ mothers in improved agricultural techniques and table banking, to help them become food secure, increase their income and better manage their finances. As a result, for the first time, these women have sufficient funds to be able to contribute to their daughters’ school fees and better support their families. Thanks to the incredible efforts of the women that we trained, all of the girls in our Success for Girls in School and Aspire Scholarships programmes, who passed their primary schools exams, are now in high school with only a…
Read moreEmma’s blog
I’m Emma Lees and I am a Law student at Newcastle University. I became involved in Team Kenya over a year ago after searching for a society that combined women’s rights with international development, so this charity seemed perfect. I have helped fundraise at the numerous society events as well as organising the pub quiz and Christmas fair. I have always had a passion for this area of work and when the opportunity of visiting Kenya arose I knew I had to come. I had done a similar volunteering trip to Marrakech before – which I loved, although at times…
Read moreTackling period poverty
The topic of menstruation is often met with awkwardness and embarrassment; it is surrounded by taboos, and shrouded in secrecy. In July 2016 I travelled to Ndhiwa, Kenya as I wanted to discover how girls in this community experience and deal with ‘that time of the month’. This research was conducted as part of my Masters in Social Development from the University of Sussex. Partnering with Team Kenya to conduct this was incredibly worthwhile, and such a unique experience to talk to these girls first-hand about their everyday experiences of periods, schooling, and the effects of poverty. I interviewed girls…
Read moreBrighter Futures
We have recently completed a Comic Relief funded research project into the root causes of School Related Gender Based Violence (SRGBV) in Ndhiwa and the most successful interventions. Our research found that: SRGBV in Ndhiwa is highly prevalent but underreported by schools and local government 62% of girls have experienced violent or sexual threats in schools 67% of girls felt that they may receive lower grades if they did not reciprocate sexual advances from male teachers 1 in 4 respondents felt that it was sometimes ok to raise a hand to a girl Our research showed that the key perpetrators…
Read moreMount Kenya October 2017
Join our team of trekkers this October and climb the spectacular Mount Kenya! Climbing to 5,199 meters, Mount Kenya is the second tallest mountain in Africa. The scenery surrounding this designated World Heritage Site is breath-taking. The trek takes you from the dusty lowlands though ancient forest and unique glacier-sculpted alpine heath, up to jagged volcanic peaks and glistening glaciers. In the 2800sq km National Park there are over 800 recorded plant species with 81 species being endemic to Mount Kenya. You can also see a wide variety of wildlife such as elephant, buffalo, bushbuck, waterbuck, zebra, hyena, colobus monkey…
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