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Annual Report 2018
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First published in 2019 by Akili Dada P.O. Box 27847-00100 Nairobi, KENYA Cell: +254721552120 www.akilidada.org / info@akilidada.org
CONTENT Staying True To Our Vision
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Who We Are
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How We Do It
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2018 Memorialized
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A Growing Sisterhood
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Traversing New Terrain
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Opening Doors To College & Beyond
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Taking Time To Learn
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The Power Of Young Women Organizing
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The Value Of Personal Development
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2018 At A Glance
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Self-Care & Wellness In The Age Of Me Too
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The State Of Young Women’s Participation In Women’s Rights Organizations
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Strengthening Our Programs
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Building Akili Dada
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Positioning Our Brand
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Investing In Our Sustainability
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Amplifying Young Women’s Voices
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Our Partners
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Acknowledgements
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Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Staying True to Our Vision We remained resolute in our fight towards an equitable world with many more girls and young women joining our movement. From Turkana to Kilifi and Maseno to Chuka, we were energized by the commitment of a budding and youthful generation of women leaders, playing their part in various spaces of influence.
Purity Kagwiria
Executive Director, Akili Dada
And the time came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. – Anais Nin 2018 was nothing short of electric. We ventured further towards our vision of nurturing transformative leadership in girls and young women from underserved communities.
This continues to be an uplifting labor of love, and we continue supporting dadas in and beyond our sisterhood. We grew as a collective and brought our values to life, adopting the acronym STILE (Sisterhood, Transformation, Integrity, Leadership, and Excellence) which symbolizes the foundation on which our dadas will overcome barriers. We stayed true to our vision making significant strides to operationalize our strategic plan (2018 - 2022). We strengthened our organization by inviting young women leaders from various sectors of influence to join our board of directors, ensuring young women continue to access leadership, even within our organization. We grew our identity through increased audience engagement on various media platforms and through partnering with amazing organizations worldwide that share our vision. We increased the impact of our programs!
Anchored in need assessments and programmatic reflection, we ventured into Kilifi and Turkana counties through our Young Changemakers Program as these areas have shown the greatest need for our programming. Through our Feminist Movement Building & Advocacy Program, we embarked on the East African Young Women Leadership & Mentoring Initiative (EAYWLMI), working with young women in women’s rights organizations. We convened two cohorts of young women, successfully completing Year 1 of implementation with significant results both in Kenya and Tanzania. As we reflect on our past and look ahead to our future, we are confident that we will continue to scale new heights and bring more girls and young women along. We are committed to building a sisterhood of fearless girls and women leaders across Africa. We do not doubt that with YOUR continued support, the right attitude, intention and team we will see our dreams come true in our lifetime. Here’s a toast to fearlessness!!
Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
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Who We Are WE ARE FEARLESS
More than a decade and a half after its founding, Akili Dada is the realization of Dr. Wanjiru Kamau-Rutenberg’s vision for an organization that supports girls and young African women to pursue educational and leadership opportunities previously unavailable to them. We exist because girls and young women CAN lead, and deserve opportunities to do so. Our leadership development model creates the foundation upon which girls and young women chart their leadership paths, build their skills and acquire the necessary qualifications needed to access key decision-making roles and leadership spaces. By selecting from and building the capacity of some of Africa’s most innovative young women change makers, we are meeting the urgent need for both more African women in leadership as well as the overall need for transformative leadership across the continent.
WE RECOGNIZE THAT African women from underserved backgrounds are vastly underrepresented in decision-making roles and processes across the continent. This absence is directly correlated with women’s lack of access to quality education, relevant networks, skills, financial resources, and basic human rights. We are building a critical mass of girls and young women to address these challenges.
Our Vision
Our Mission
A world in which African women leaders are actively participating in key decision-making processes across various sectors.
To nurture transformative leadership in girls and young women from underserved backgrounds to meet the urgent need for more African women in leadership.
Our Values
“STILE” is an arrangement of steps that allows people to climb over a fence or wall – a perfect metaphor for what we do. Our 5 core values are represented by this acronym, which guides our work and our lived experiences.
S- Sisterhood: We are committed to building a network of solidarity and support across the Akili Dada sisterhood. T- Transformation: We are committed to creating social change through growth at the personal, communal, national and international levels. I- Integrity: We believe it takes courage to stand by your principles and uphold what is right and strive to nurture a culture of building strong moral principles. L- Leadership: We encourage independent thinking and virtue in everything we do. E- Excellence: We strive for distinction and brilliance in every aspect of our work.
Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
How We Do It
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Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
2018 Memorialized
Enhancing girls’ and young women’s access to leadership opportunities. We spent 2018 channeling our energies and laying the foundation for our ambitious future by kickstarting the implementation of our 5-year strategy. We invested in new opportunities, learnt new things and unlearnt old habits, shifted gears and allowed the ripples of our work to evolve organically.
First Alumnae Convening We recognise the need to invest in continuous capacity development of our dadas. We therefore convened the inaugural Alumnae Convening in August, which aimed to provide Akili Dada alumnae with a platform to advance their skills and networks to facilitate a successful transition into their careers.
Career Launchpad Session at Alumnae convening
Alumnae convening dinner
Wasichana wa Afrika Summit The Wasichana wa Afrika Summit’s goal is to identify high potential adolescent girls who are passionate about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics) from Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The Summit provided them with a platform to interact with successful women working as experts in STEM, in order to expand their knowledge on the subjects and increase their curiosity to continue pursuing STEM courses in high school and beyond. The Summit was a success thanks to our partners Nairobits, WomEng Kenya, Indigenous Education Foundation of Tanzania (IEFT), Oracle Foundation and Life Lifters.
Wasichana wa Afrika Summit participants taking a practical photography training
Wasichana wa Africa Summit participants during an outdoor experience session
Akili Dada Annual Report 2018 Engaging Emerging Student Leaders Alive to the fact that student leadership is a proven pathway to leadership in many societies and the need for transformative and empathetic leadership in our country, Akili Dada launched a 3-year project; Emerging Leaders. The project seeks to nurture a cadre of young women who are confident and ready to take up leadership roles and influence change in their immediate communities (universities) and across all sectors. The project targets 150 young female students in three university namely; Chuka, Maseno and Pwani University.
6 East Africa Young Women Leadership & Mentoring Initiative (EAYWLMI) - Training of Trainers The overall objective of the project is to nurture a cadre of young women leaders in women’s rights organizations committed to participating in and building movements and providing spaces for young women to thrive. Find out more about EAYWLMI on Page 11.
East Africa Young Women Leadership and Mentoring Initiative (EAYWLMI) participants
Emerging Leaders Project participants from Maseno University
East Africa Young Women Leadership and Mentoring Initiative (EAYWLMI) mentors orientation
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Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Growing Sisterhood
Fearlessly expanding our sisterhood through programs and partnerships We took up new spaces by collaborating with partners to expand our reach and impact on girls and young women in previously uncharted demographics. It is through collaborations such as these that we grew and exchanged knowledge that influenced our work positively.
Kate Kiama from Akili Dada in a panel at The Youth Summit hosted by St. Paul’s University
Girls Leadership Academy on a learning visit at the United Nations Headquarters in Nairobi.
Transformative Feminist Leadership Training in Ethiopia in collaboration with Earuyan Solutions and Svenska Interorga, resulting in a feminist leadership toolkit
International Women’s Day at Swedish Embassy
Traversing New Terrain The Young Changemakers Program provides adolescent girls the space and support they need to develop their leadership styles, learn how to identify needs in their communities and build skills to address community challenges as girl leaders. Having provided close to 150 comprehensive high school scholarships to underserved girls in our partner schools to date, and intent on reaching more underserved adolescent girls, Akili Dada scaled her Young Changemakers Program to Turkana and Kilifi counties! We identified the two regions as our next frontiers informed by national data that indicated that the regions face the highest levels of teenage pregnancy and lack of access to quality education by girls. Appreciative of the value of baby steps, we undertook recce visits in both counties, paid courtesy visits to the county governments and scoped for potential partner schools culminating in the hosting of a Residential Leadership Academy that attracted 84 adolescent girls from 13 schools. As we move into Year 2 of our strategic plan implementation, our target is to reach even more adolescent girls from both regions. Our dream is to continually equip the girls with skills and agency so that they can successfully navigate barriers hindering their access to education and emerge as leaders in their schools and communities.
YOUNG CHANGEMAKERS PROGRAM
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Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Opening doors to college & beyond Paza Program prepares recent female high school graduates for the rigors of higher learning and beyond. PAZA, which translates to Amplify, in Swahili, provides competitive pathways through which young women can access: 1. Leadership Development platforms to enable them influence their peers and communities 2. University preparation through S.A.T examination tutoring and access to scholarship opportunities abroad 3. Career activation through internship placements In 2018, Paza realized many amazing feats. Paza participants volunteered in community schools where they taught 343 students and pupils for a cumulative 718 hours. The participants were placed in diverse spaces for internship experience including Karen Village, Engineers Lab Africa, Sadili Sports Academy, Faraja Cancer Support Trust among others. Paza Participants received MasterCard scholarships and Jim Ovia Scholarships worth $ 24,528 per year at universities abroad and scholarships worth $ 3,674 per year at universities in Kenya. One Paza graduate, Sunday Dhieu, was also featured on International Day of the Girl Child in the New York Times “This is 18� project, which paid homage to girls turning 18 around the world in 2018.
PAZA PROGRAM
Taking
Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
time to learn
Maintaining programs that deliver exquisite results usually requires pausing to reflect every so often on what is working and what could be improved. In 2018, we decided to carry out a comprehensive evaluation of our Fellowship Component (currently housed under Washa Program). This evaluation comes after a 5 Year implementation of the Young African Women Fellowship from 2013 to 2017. The Fellowship has impacted 54 young women social entrepreneurs from East Africa (Kenya: 41, Uganda: 5, Tanzania: 4, Rwanda: 3, South Sudan: 1). The Evaluation will allow Akili Dada to identify areas of improvement, measure the impact of this component and learn best practices to strengthen it.
WASHA PROGRAM
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Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
The power of young women organizing
East Africa Young Women Leadership & Mentoring Initiative (EAYWLMI) participants training on project design
East Africa Young Women Leadership & Mentoring Initiative (EAYWLMI) participants during outdoor learning
East Africa Young Women Leadership & Mentoring Initiative (EAYWLMI) participants training on feminist leadership
Akili Dada is coordinating the East Africa Young Women Feminist Leadership and Mentoring Initiative in partnership with Global Fund for Women in Kenya and Tanzania. The project seeks to nurture a cadre of 40 young women leaders in 20 women’s rights organizations committed to participating in and building movements and providing spaces for young women to thrive. In 2018, the project successfully: • Selected 40 Young Women who began receiving mentorship and feminist leadership development over the next 3 years. • Engaged the 20 organizations represented by the young women in the program in Kenya and Tanzania. • Developed an African Feminist leadership curriculum which we use for the trainings. • Convened a training of trainers with the 40 young women so that they are able to cascade their learnings in the communities where they work, and implement successful enablement projects within these communities.
FEMINIST MOVEMENT BUILDING & ADVOCACY
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Living Our Truth The Value Of Personal Development we occupy. Of great significance is leading oneself and to do this effectively. I learnt the aspect of self-examination and embracing adult learning as a way of renewing my energy and spirit as a leader. I cherish tools I acquired from the Program to improve our programming for girls and young women at Akili Dada. These tools have enabled me to infuse creativity and diversity in designing and implementing the Washa Program.
Our Exec. Director Graduates from African Leadership University School of Business with a Masters In Business Administration.
I was privileged to participate in Global Youth Leaders Program at the Coady International Institute in Canada in 2018, a Program that brought together young women and men from across the globe to strengthen our leadership capabilities to catalyze innovation in our organisations.
DORIS KAMATHI
My greatest take-away from this Program is the skills I acquired to lead. I got to explore and reflect on my personal power and how to utilize the power within and with other like-minded people to influence change in spaces
KATE KIAMA & SUSAN KINUTHIA In October 2018, Susan Kinuthia- the Program Associate of Washa Program- and I attended a 9-day Intensive convening by the Street Business School (SBS) in Kampala Uganda. SBS is a non-profit organisation on a mission to end extreme poverty through small business ownership. Their goal is to ignite 1 million women out of poverty by 2027. The training was timely as it gave us best practices and practical tools and proven methods to teach young women how to build up their enterprises, meet their daily needs and break out of the cycle of poverty. The networks, resources, learnings and unlearnings were very enriching to us participants as well as to the organisation.
2018 At A Glance
Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
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Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Self-Care & Wellness
In the age of
#MeToo
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The new frontier that Akili Dada is exploring is incorporation of self-care into learning and mentorship. Self-care is a powerful tool that is not only a feminist statement against patriarchy, but also works to maintain physical, emotional, mental and spiritual stability of young women and girls who have undergone traumatic experiences, and specifically sexual harrassment. At Akili Dada, we are intentional in incorporating self-care in all our programs. Our rationale is informed by the positive impact safe spaces within our community have had on girls and young women, driving them towards leadership and their individual hopes and dreams. As we move forward, we are working towards self-care being institutionalized in communities and workspaces, so that girls and young women in Africa realize their agency and are able to speak up against oppression.
The state of young women’s participation in women’s rights organizations As part of our program design for the East Africa Young Women Leadership & Mentoring Initiative (EAYWLMI), we conducted a scoping study to establish the status of young women in women-led insittuions and whether there was need to build the capacity of the young women to grow their leadership and to increase their contribution to the voices of diverse African women within the feminist movement. The study’s key findings validated the need equip young women with knowledge and skills in order to build sustainable feminist movements in Kenya and Tanzania and to contribute to the larger women’s rights conversation. Some of these findings include: • Both Kenya and Tanzania have ratified legal instruments in place such as the Maputo protocol, CEDAW and the 2/3 gender bill. • Some organizations in both countries were hesitant in being identified as feminist due to the political, social and cultural hostility exhibited towards the term. • There’s a gap in leadership within women’s rights organizations in both Kenya and Tanzania exhibited by the fact that most leadership positions are still
mostly held by founders.
• In terms of mentorship, both Kenya and Tanzania have made an effort to foster intergenerational learning and knowledge exchange to strengthen the leadership of the women’s rights movement. The gap in mentorship is the need for a structural program to nurture young women leaders. The way forward from these findings would entail: • Need for more structured engagement strategies within movements to support young women to champion for causes. • The continuous rallying of girls and young women to collectively organize for change. • Development of transition plans for organizations for intergenerational success of leadership. • Documentation and communication of successes and gains of both individuals and organizations within the movement. • Deliberate efforts being made to share knowledge, experiences and better practices. • Debunking myths on what feminism is by educating the masses on its ideologies and truths.
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Challenges In The Operational Context The fight is however, far from over with Tanzania’s government having issued a directive in 2017 barring teen mothers from going back to school after childbirth, which is against the Maputo Protocol. Kenya continues to lag behind with regards to representation of women in parliament despite the 2/3 gender bill. Women only hold 22% of parliament positions in Kenya, which is 11% less than the bill’s recommended number. The East Africa civic space has generally shrunk in the last two years with lots of clawbacks on gains previously made towards women’s rights issues.
This is why at Akili Dada, we have made a deliberate effort to ensure young women have access to leadership training and an intergenerational network of women around them to support their journeys. Over the next two years, we hope to learn from this experience and impact the African feminist movement positively.
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Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Strengthening our programs
Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Our ecosystem is growing sustainably, placing girls and women at the center of progress for Africa’s leadership. In line with our strategic plan, programs continue to be strengthened through: • Streamlining programmatic operational procedures. • Knowledge building of staff. • Scaling impact. • Cross-program collaboration.
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Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Building
Akili Dada
Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Seeking, obtaining and providing the financial, technological and human resources needed in our organization is imperative to achieving our vision. This is why we are committed to strengthening Akili Dada through: • Strengthening our Human Resource Pillars Revising and institutionalising our Human Resources System in 2018 has allowed a more streamlined channel of internal and external operations. • Strengthening our Governance Systems Recruiting new board members into Akili Dada within 2018 and 2019 as we continue to ensure our governance systems represent young women under 35 years old. • Diversifying our Revenue Portfolio Ensuring that we are not over-relying on only one type of funder or one funder.
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Positioning Our Brand
Forward UK Learning Visit
As a learning organisation, we are keen on growing as a thought leader in our field. As such, we hosted these groups for learning visits.
Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Kuza Initiative Learning Visit at Akili Dada
Ford Foundation Learning Visit at Akili Dada
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Investing in Our Sustainability The groundwork we have laid since inception has prepared us to escalate our efforts further to ensure that our organisation stands on her own feet. Through careful stewardship of our resources, innovations in processes and efforts to find new efficiencies, we have increased and diversified our grants portfolio and other sources of income to ensure our programs thrive.
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Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Amplifying Young Women’s Voices
“As a woman and a feminist, my aspiration is to see the girl child enjoying the best this world can offer. This comes with the ability to think critically, making the right choices and learning to learn from their mistakes in their course of climbing the career ladder.”
Girls and young women in our community are audacious and ready to speak up! Their voices are heard despite any barriers they experience because they believe they have the power to make positive changes in our world today and in the future. As a supporter of this belief, we present our Dadas Voices below:
“I feel prepared to join campus; the Paza program has equipped me with skills that I need not only on campus but also in life. I have been empowered as an all-round person in terms of communication, social skills, financial management and college preparedness. The highlight of my internship was my interaction with my supervisor Sharon Kangai, who challenged me to do and be better each day both for my personal development and work. I have become a better time manager, better communicator, more confident and generally, I’ve experienced lots of personal growth being in the workplace.” ~ Elizabeth, Paza Program 2018 Graduate
~ Abigail, East Africa Young Women Leadership & Mentoring Initiative
“This has been the most exciting journey of my life yet. I now fully make sense of some of the challenges I have experienced in life. I am more intentional in the things I do, I practice self-care more, role modeling and being my authentic self. Also, though my personality is choleric, I have learnt to be more patient with people and be present in the moment, enjoying and laughing out loud more. I feel inspired on an individual level and look forward to getting all the mentors together to work on various CSR projects. I am excited to continue this journey with Akili dada.” ~ Gathoni, a Young Changemakers Program mentor
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#enlightening “The program was really enlightening because it’s like learning something different everyday. Throughout the whole week, I had a better understanding of who I am and who I want to become and I’m grateful for this opportunity. The one thing I would say is to love yourself because when you love yourself, suddenly nothing else really matters and it’s like you’re finally free.” ~ Riziki, External Leadership Academy Graduate 2018
“Akili Dada is making a difference in the lives of young girls like me who came from underserved backgrounds to have a better shot in life. I am surrounded by women who are go getters, courageous and phenomenal and you have no choice but to soar high with them.” ~ Sharon, Grants & Executive Associate at Akili Dada
“The phrase ‘time is key’ was always a quote to me until I joined the Paza Program at Akili Dada. My experience so far has helped me understand the actual meaning of the statement. Now, time is not only important but its management matters as well with regard to what kind of activities I engage in. First, I learnt how to write a To-Do List where I give a brief summary of my day’s activities. This keeps me on track in that I am not distracted from my work. Procrastination was my main problem before I joined Paza but now I have a better hold of what I need to do and when.” ~ Prudence, Paza Program 2018 Graduate
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Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Our Partners
Staff Giving Circle
Akili Dada Annual Report 2018
Acknowledgements
Fearlessness can only be achieved when a network of support encourages individuals and movements to push boundaries and break barriers. We therefore take this opportunity to appreciate our Board of Directors who have given their time and ideas, all of which are invaluable to us. We thank our partners and funders who have collaborated with us, introduced us to new spaces and challenged us to grow. We are in awe of our sisterhood (alumnae, fellows, scholars and friends) who continue to chart their individual journeys as girl leaders and young women leaders. Finally, we applaud the solidarity we’ve received from our staff. You are fearless in the strides you make and we look forward to more incredible achievements with you in future.
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