In-Country Organizations ICUUW has previously partnered with:
Tunawiri Pamoja (“Let’s Grow Together”), a women-led community-based organization in western Kenya addressing unending challenges facing young women: child marriage, child pregnancies, menstrual health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, poverty, and gender inequality. Tunawiri Pamoja founder Noel Lutomia is a former member of the ICUUW board of Directors (2021-2023).
Acacia in Kenya (AIK), an NGO that partners with community leaders in Mumias (Western Kenya) to care for, shelter, and educate young women who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend high school. Founded in 2005 by Joyce Mohr and Sammy Lutomia, AIK is an official outreach project of First Parish Waltham, MA, a Unitarian Universalist congregation. AIK Project Coordinator Noel Lutomia is a former member of the ICUUW board of Directors (2021-2023).
Tunawiri Pamoja’s “Young Women's Business Program” (2023/24)
Thanks to funds raised via a Faithify crowdfunding campaign, Tunawiri Pamoja's Young Women's Business Program in Mumias town, Western Kenya will build marginalized young Kenyan women’s capacities for long-term success by providing knowledge, skills, resources, and tools regarding land and property rights, family planning, as well as basic business and leadership skills.
In February 2023, the program kicked off with an introductory session for each of the three focus areas: sexual and reproductive health and rights, entrepreneurship, and land and property rights. Entrepreneurship, addressed in the spring of 2023, provided an opportunity for the young women traders to learn about savings culture and facilitate borrowing from a common lending pool, through the Village Savings and Loans Association (VSLA) model. Please read more (including short videos with two program participants).
COVID-Relief with Specific Support for Girls in Western Kenya
At the height of the global health crisis, ICUUW partnered with AIK to respond to urgent challenges facing women and girls in western Kenya:
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Schools were closed, burdening girls with extra household chores
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Girls took over their mothers' roles because most mothers had to leave home for work so that they could get food for the family
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Girls were more exposed to male predators
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Girls and women were less able to manage their menstruation (factors included a massive shortage of menstrual hygiene products, limited mobility, stress and anxiety, lack of access to water and sanitation etc.)
In less than two months, in response to immediate local needs, ICUUW raised $1,800 for Acacia in Kenya to provide much-needed COVID-19 relief efforts, including sanitary pads, water buckets and soap, masks, and sensitization sessions on COVID-19 and on how to prevent teenage pregnancies and early marriages.
Please watch this video below to see how your contributions made a difference! Noel Lutomia brought greetings to ICUUW on its 10th anniversary, talking about AIK's programs to empower rural women and girls in Kenya, in partnership with ICUUW: