TICAH@20 Special Feature

✨ 20 Questions with Mary Elias ✨

If you’ve been to one of our activities, chances are high you got to experience Mary’s engaging facilitation style and her big smile. Our Program Manager at the Healthy Households program, Mary has been part of TICAH for over 15 years!

We are continuing to celebrate our 20^th anniversary as TICAH! This month, we sat down with one of our longest standing team members, Mary Elias.

OBOC: Marking World Contraception Day 2023

On 21^st September 2023, the streets of Makadara in Nairobi were filled with the voices of young mothers and a marching band as they conducted a procession in the lead up to World Contraception Day on 26^th September 2023.

Over 100 community members came together to celebrate the occasion, which culminated in a panel discussion and presentation of a joint communique prepared by young mothers with key demands to the government concerning sexual and reproductive health and rights. Responding to the demands, the Chief Officer Health representative for Nairobi County committed to support 20 young mothers to attend technical and vocational training (TVET) courses and equally create opportunities for girls and young women at the County level in the Environment Program.

TICAH believes in amplifying community voices, and we are proud of our young mothers for exercising their agency and demanding for their rights. Read their full communique and demands on our blog.

IKC: Reflecting on the African Traditional Medicine Day 2023

“I have been on this journey for 17 years now. For how long shall we wait for a favorable environment that supports our practice and allow our people to enjoy the benefits of traditional medicine?”  

This was the voice of Dr. Lydia Matoke, Chair of the Herbalists’ Society of Kenya, speaking at the African Traditional Medicine Day commemoration organized by TICAH. 

On African Traditional Medicine Day on 31st August 2023, TICAH convened a stakeholders' conference in Nairobi to review the progress made so far in the creation of an enabling environment for traditional medicine to thrive in Kenya. Read our reflections about this activity on our blog.  

Healthy Households: Celebrating our Community Champions

In this newsletter, we are highlighting our community champions and partners in our child protection program Cheptonon Women Group in Bungoma, Kibera Creative Arts (KiCA) in Nairobi, and Manoa Healthcare provider from Taita Taveta for the incredible work they are doing in their communities. From the candid discussion we had while doing monitoring visits, the group shared their efforts in increasing agency of children on their rights and value at organizational and community level. Here’s what they had to say about our partnership!

For Manoa, TICAH’s child protection program has impacted the children in strengthening their agency to use their voice and knowledge. The children can clearly communicate their rights, they clearly understand what it means to be violated as a child and where to report in case they or another child is violated.

For KiCA, the program has led to increased participation of children and decreased dropout rates in art classes. For example, prior to the training, their program attracted an enrollment of 30 children. However, post-training, they have witnessed a remarkable increase, with over 60 children actively participating in the program. There has also been a decline in the number of children discontinuing their involvement, signifying a growing sense of safety and security among the children within the KiCA community. This has consequently led to increased talent development among children. In the case of KiCA, they currently have more than 60 children who can play a musical instrument, draw, or choreograph a dance all by themselves. This is because they attended classes more frequently, felt safe during training and knew when and where to report in case of any violation.

At Cheptonon, there has been a significant decline in teenage pregnancies since the children have gained a better understanding of their rights. As a result, perpetrators of these offenses have faced legal consequences, with some being jailed. Furthermore, the community has embraced these positive changes, contributing to the overall reduction in teenage pregnancies within their area of operation.
We celebrate our partnership and look forward to more partnership to advance the rights and psychosocial wellbeing of every child.
 

IKC: Promoting Indigenous Women’s Land Rights

The inclusion of women in land and property ownership has advanced over the years with clear documentation of rights stipulated in both the Constitution of Kenya 2013 and the Land Act 2012.  However, most indigenous women lack information about their rights regarding land ownership, transfer, and inheritance. TICAH worked with KELIN, the National Lands Commission, and the Kajiado County Government to mobilize and train women leaders in Kajiado on land rights. This strengthened women's voice, confidence, leadership, collective action, and knowledge of property rights and community land protection. With a clear action plan from the training, women leaders planned and hosted community forums in Imbirikani, Imaroro, Ildamat and Ildalalekutuk on land rights and women's inclusion in decision-making. During this forum, 757 community members (98% of whom were women) were reached with information about property rights and community land protection.

This month, we celebrate two of our Olamal Lesipata leaders who have been appointed to the county's decision-making structures: Nabiki from Ilkankere is now a member of the Alternative Justice System (AJS) Committee, an alternative justice mechanism established by the Judiciary and the Kajiado County Government to resolve and defuse land disputes in Kajiado County. Felistus Kashu, a young Olamal leader, has also been selected as a member of the Kajiado Maasai Technical Advisory Committee, which will advise the county on land matters.

The County government also invited two olamal leaders to submit their contributions and comments on the draft County spatial plan during the stakeholder forum, with the women giving suggestion to include gender inclusion at the implementation level and requesting for a gender equality expert must be represented on the technical committee. We continue to celebrate many other women leaders and advocates for women's inclusion in land and property negotiations at the family, community, county and national levels.
 

… we organized several live talk shows for World Contraception Day on 26th September 2023 on Mtaani Radio, Pamoja FM, Ruben FM and Koch FM, as well as two TikTok live sessions.

… our OBOC Community Outreach Manager Wangari Ireri spoke about Sexual and Reproductive Health on MOF TV Kenya.

… we engaged journalists that participated in our August training on progressive reporting on SRHR to share articles on International Safe Abortion Day on 28^th September 2023. Read the articles on the Nation, TalkAfrica, GhettoRadio and People Daily.