Blog

By Megha Rana

The demand for financial literacy in Africa is huge.  The number of programs is small.  For those that do exist, the goal is to educate those in poverty so they can begin to build financially stronger and smarter lives. However, as you review these programs, note that they are designed for those who do have a relatively stable income, living above the world poverty index of $1.90/day.   There do not appear to be many financial education programs designed for this level of poverty. 

The National Financial Educators Council (NFEC) is an independent organization that helps people of all ages and income levels become financially literate. Their Curriculum Advisory Board is made up of expert financial educators who design engaging, fun, relatable courses for low-income adults and families. This program consists of an 8-week course that is taught 4 hours a week, with a curriculum based on a timeline that can be adjusted to help faster or slower students. The lessons are practical and offer incentives that help students take real-world actions to improve their finances. The National Financial Educators Council is an independent organization so there are no outside financial institutions influencing or benefitting from their work – banks, independent lenders, etc.

The Center for Financial Literacy Education Africa (CFLE Africa) is a not-for-profit social organization in Ghana that seeks to promote and develop financial literacy skills in the average Ghanaian and as well as other Africans. Their mission is to empower and educate all Ghanaians (and other Africans) to make financially sound decisions, develop and promote financial literacy skills in young people for successful living, dramatically expand financial awareness and financial literacy education, and recognize and unite organizations and individuals who are championing improving financial awareness and literacy.

Ghana has a population of nearly 30 million, with an employment rate of about 41% and an unemployment rate near 6.8%. However, this leaves over 3.9 million Ghanaians in such dire poverty they cannot afford three meals a day for themselves and their family. Many are struggling to survive on less than $1.90 PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) or $1 per day. They are not taught about planning for their future either at school or at home nor do they learn why it is important to have a current financial plan to protect themselves and their families. As a result, this level of endemic poverty has led to a serious financial illiteracy epidemic.

CFLE Africa has created the “Improving Financial Awareness and Financial Literacy Movement in Ghana.” Their strategy is to first take an active role in recognizing thought leaders and stakeholders who are or should be working towards improving financial awareness and financial literacy. The second step is to unite them with other associations, non-profits, and/or organizations to focus their community resources on building concentrated media campaign venues. For instance, April is now known as Financial Literacy Month in Ghana. 

This movement began in March 2018, when Peter Kwadwo Asare Nyarko, Executive Director of CFLE reached out to the Financial Awareness Foundation (TFAF), a USA based non-profit organization. He shared his vision for Ghana and Africa, where every person in Ghana is financially aware and financially literate, and an Africa where people are financially empowered and educated to make their own personal financial decisions. 

Another organization, CARE, is a global leader with a worldwide mission to end poverty. Their “POWER Africa” project (Promoting Opportunities for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Rural Africa) aims to increase financial inclusion for 480,000 individuals and their families through savings groups, financial education, and linking mature groups to formal financial institutions. Their focus is on the poorest households in rural areas within Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, and Rwanda, as these areas are significantly excluded from financial services. 

POWER Africa, which ran from 2014-2017, was focused on female-headed households in rural and peri-urban areas.  They worked across the financial inclusion ladder to link women to formal financial services. By the end of the project, 12,542 groups with a combined membership of more than 353,000 were linked to formal financial services. In addition, another 162,000 individuals (who were not part of the combined memberships) were also linked to formal financial services. Of these unaffiliated individuals, 71% of them were women.

Programs such as CARE, NFEC, and CFLE are particularly important because they do not have a stake in any financial institution or sponsored financial vehicle.  They are not interested in increasing the number of depositors at any one bank or, as is often the case, uninterested in rural areas which lack banking facilities. Instead, these programs cater to rural African culture with varied teaching timelines, flexible program hours, and fluid programming to fit the concerns of participants in specific communities. They are truly creating social impact by helping those in poverty and/or poor financial situations, empowering them to make financial stability a reality.

Sources:

https://www.financialeducatorscouncil.org/financial-literacy-for-low-income

https://cfleafrica.org/the-movement/ 

https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/37422165.pdf

https://www.care.org/our-work/education-and-work/microsavings/promoting-opportunities-for-womens-economic-empowerment-in-rural-africa/

By Megha Rana

Financial education programs for the poor cannot be normative, meaning they cannot be structured around the behavior of a Western, financially stable person. Financial programs are often made for the middle class and the curriculum consists of teaching budgeting, debt management, investments, etc. However, for the over 678 million people worldwide who live at or below the poverty line ($1.90/day)*, these concepts are alien . How could an individual struggling to fund their next meal or to buy basics needed for cooking such as propane or wood, begin to grasp these concepts? The approach must change to focus on the realities of how the poor cope with their circumstances, recording best practices and formalizing them.

*Please note that $1.90/day does not mean that the poor actually earn this daily, rather it is an average of incomes.  It is not unusual for there to be days where everyone in a family of 5 will work and days where only 3 out of the 5 work.

Bringing financial literacy to those in extreme poverty must focus on stabilizing their lives first and then on stabilizing their wealth. For instance, for the 8.9 million Kenyans living in poverty (earning less than $1.90/day), what are solutions to help them maximize options for managing their low and unpredictable cash flow? Those working as day laborers in Nyamboyo Village typically earn $1.20/day, often with no regular schedule of work. So, they may work a few days one week earning $1.20/day, but then they may have weeks without any work or income.

Therefore, new programs must be adapted from traditional programs.  They must start with a deep understanding of how the poor successfully cope and survive on substandard incomes. Financial education must also take into account the additional risk faced by the poor who have minimal control over outside circumstances and the resulting, unexpected expenses. Something that may seem relatively small to a person of moderate means, such as a short illness that requires a doctor’s visit and medication, may wipe out a poor person’s savings as well as prospects of daily income while they are sick. Witness the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic when, in its first year, many people worldwide had to survive months without work or worked in unsafe conditions.  With no steady income flow, the risks of COVID were compounded by risks of starvation.  Also, their expenses increased as masks and soap became essentials.

In Kenya, there is an additional complexity to teaching financial literacy to the poor. Those who come from generational poverty only have the long-term experience of “just enough” for survival.  Extra income (a rarity) immediately goes to expenses that have been put off, such as clothes for growing children, a store of dried foods, or medicine that has been foregone. People who have never had money to spend have not developed planning skills. They cannot afford to spend time considering or dreaming of what they would do with extra.

In this context, concepts such as budgeting and investing are alien. What use is a budget when your overarching worry is earning enough today to provide an evening meal for your family? Why use a budget when your children wear rags and you can’t afford medication for your elderly parents? It is a major creative challenge for educators to provide the context so individuals in poverty can understand the relevance of a budget or any other financial planning skill.

In our upcoming blogs, we will share examples of programs that are effectively teaching financial concepts to the poor, helping them to improve their lives as well as think about the skills necessary to move beyond subsistence existence.

Sources:

Wentzel, Arnold, Why Financial Education Fails the Extremely Poor (December 2013). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2518533 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2518533V

By Megha Rana

Gender stereotypes are generalizations and/or assumptions made in regards to roles that women and men play, respectively, in a culture. While they differ from culture to culture and region to region, a shared and defining trait is how deeply ingrained these stereotypes have become in individual cultures and larger societies around the world. 

In Kenya and other East African countries, the traditional female role has been to run the household, to both grow and cook food, to bear and raise children, to carry water, and to be obedient to the husband.  In general, children have spent a majority of their time with their mothers or female relatives. In large families, it was not uncommon for older female siblings to help raise the children, sometimes pausing or completely sacrificing their education.  

The conventional male role has been to protect the family, providing safety and material support.  While the family structure depends to some degree on the tribe, men have generally headed the household, earning the majority of the money and making the important household decisions. 

Enter the modern, interconnected world and the pressures of modernization.  Today in East Africa, men and women alike are growing out of their ‘traditional’ roles. 

In Kenya, for example, there is a husband who works as a cattle broker and his wife is a schoolteacher. The husband does work which a decade ago would have been unthinkable:  He washes the dishes, does the laundry, and brings home firewood.  Why?  Because his schoolteacher wife is pregnant with their second child and he believes they should share the household workload. Or consider a retired secondary school principal in a rural region who has trained his wife in finances and now involves his wife in important family financial decisions. He is also helping his daughters develop their own voices through financial and leadership training. 

Most notable in East Africa is the growing numbers of female entrepreneurs.   Women are beginning to create their own solutions to problems, both by developing community services and businesses.  For instance, a local teacher in Tanzania saw a need for greater educational services in her community and spearheaded the movement to build a nonprofit school that she now leads. 

Increasingly, as climate change impacts the planet, gender roles must shift to keep cultures alive.   In Kenya, women from the ethnic Maasai tribe were forbidden to work.  Home was their sole sphere of influence. Men were responsible for earning money, mainly through cattle rearing. However, recent recurring droughts have devastated many of the herds, resulting in women creating trades such as beadwork to provide a steady income.   In fact, in some Masaai communities it is now the women who go to work while the men stay at home to care for the home and family. 

A balance in long-held gender roles will take time. Altering centuries-long societal norms will require patience and developing a community-wide tolerance for discomfort. However, with the speed of change in our world no one is immune from shifting roles. As Robin Sharma eloquently sums it up, “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, but beautiful in the end.”

Sources: 

https://www.voanews.com/a/kenya-changing-gender-roles/6366764.html

https://brighter-tz-fund.org/Blog/4902092

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/rural-kenya-traditional-gender-roles-equality/

By Megha Rana

East African homes, businesses, and industries have been forced to live with irregular and costly power due to inefficient state-owned electricity firms that follow often unsuccessful government procedures.  A study executed by Clarion Energy and the Gordon Institute of Business Science from the University of Pretoria in South Africa tells us that instabilities within the Kenyan government have been a leading cause of concern for government-owned utility firms because they poorly impact the firm’s management processes. As mentioned previously, because these companies often have to follow governmental rules (which are still doubtful in efficiency of properly providing power), it becomes detrimental for the firm and their outcomes. 

Africa’s large operational inefficiencies have caused the region to suffer soaring energy prices, estimated to be more than $3 billion dollars annually. Many of the electricity providers of public or private sectors also struggle to break even, making investments a limited option. For instance, the company ‘Kenya Power,’ 50.1% of which is owned by the state, has been dealing with a demand crisis due to its escalated electricity bills, corruption, and increasing shift to renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, and hydropower. 

This shift in the source of electricity may just prove to be a more viable and affordable option, as data has also shown. New data reveals that there is a great potential for wind, solar, and hydropower particularly in regions of East Africa that currently lack electricity and/or do not have stable sources of electricity. For 70% of the areas in Kenya without electricity, there is high potential for solar energy. Uganda also has great potential for all types of renewable energy (solar, wind, hydropower), a solution from which 6.8 million people could benefit. 

This expansion in access could also help to improve both education and health care in East Africa. An analysis from Energy Access Explorer displays that 60% of the area in which Uganda’s schools and hospitals are located has great potential for small-scale hydropower. To add on, in Kenya there is also considerable potential for small-scale hydropower in 68% of the areas in which Kenyan healthcare and educational facilities are located. Almost all of Tanzania’s areas of schools and hospitals (approximately 98%) have high potential for solar energy and 70% of those areas have potential for hydropower. 

In essence, to address this issue of access to reliable electricity across vast areas of East Africa, renewable energy sources may just come to the rescue, and if all goes according to plan, renewables could be a notable source within the next decade. According to the United Nations, renewable energy sources are on their way to generate half of the sub-Saharan power by 2040. Vera Songwe, the UN Under Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the UN Economic Commission for Africa, herself says that the great news is that the potent case for clean energy in Africa has never been stronger than now. This is largely due to the demand for energy with a growing population, increasing urbanization, industrialization and trade, and, of course, climate change.

By NTS staff

Kenyan culture has been highly masculine for generations. Hofstede Insights, an online publication which tracks national culture through factors such as power distance and individualism, rates Kenya as a 60/100 on the masculinity scale compared to a perfectly equitable score of 0/100. Although the average masculinity score for most countries in Africa lies between 40/100 – 60/100, Kenya remains on the higher side of this range. According to this index, this means that Kenya is a “masculine society” in which social behavior is mostly driven by male influence. However, this patriarchal structure puts an immense burden on male behavior, creating exceptionally challenging social and professional burdens.

Let’s take a look at precisely what these are:

In 2021, researchers examined the effects of income and social issues in Africa to determine how they contribute to toxic masculinity. This study found that Kenya ranks near the bottom of the Human Development Index, meaning that Kenyans face more poverty, alcoholism, and crime than the average person. This results in a lack of male role models available to Kenyan men, which then results in a lack of positive representation for male behaviors (Letarte). Furthermore, Healthline reports that toxic masculinity can result in increased mental health problems for everyone in a society, including stress and depression. Furthermore, they also reported that men who grow up in a highly masculine society “are more likely to feel lonely, hostile… [and lack] loving social bond[s]”

Jones Obiria, the School Director of Nyamboyo Technical School, has experienced the challenges of living in a highly masculine society. As a school leader and father of three, Obiria is forced to carry immense social pressure silently while also leading a community and a family. In a brief video, he explains some of these pressures, saying that men aren’t supposed to express discomfort when they’re sick or even after circumcision. This societal pressure then rolls into Kenyan family dynamics, where men are expected to maintain this air of strength by providing for and heading their families (“Kenyan Culture”). In fact, speaking about this social role is viewed as taboo in Kenyan culture, making Obiria a pioneer in breaking this cycle. 

Collectively, the social pressure put on men can be exceptionally debilitating, leading to broken family dynamics which are worsened significantly by poverty. Currently, over a third of Kenya lives at or below the world poverty index (Merchant). So, how can this social dynamic be changed to yield a less pressured lifestyle for men?

The UN writes an interesting article describing how education is linked to fighting highly masculine societies. Specifically, education helps to socialize both men and women together in an equal environment – what they call “gender socialization.” Gender socialization leads to the breakdown of gender stereotypes and is described as being the most important factor in challenging culturally-based discrimination (Karam). Furthermore, Harvard Medical School also holds that education itself is linked with increased feminist values and a lower likelihood of committing sexual assault (Curan). Additionally, a study performed in sub-Saharan Africa, reports that religious institutions can also play large roles in reducing toxic masculinity by focusing more on education and family values (Letarte). By educating young men in Kenya and improving advocacy for attending school, we can begin to tackle the negative aspects of masculine culture.

Nyamboyo Technical School is also working to change this by launching a reproductive education program focused on reducing these social pressures on men. Specifically, the program will create a safe place for young men to discuss the various issues they face when transitioning from adolescence to manhood and openly examining their highly masculinized culture. This program is being developed in partnership with the NGO Afripads where NTS’ female students are being supplied reusable sanitary pads.  Both groups will have health and reproductive education, both together and separately. Collectively, this program will allow for the social progression of both men and women, taking another step to address gender equality in Kenya’s masculine culture.

Sources

Curan, Terrence. “Comprehensive Sex Education as Violence Prevention.” Harvard Medical School, Harvard Medical School Primary Care Review, 29 May 2020 – info.primarycare.hms.harvard.edu/review/sexual-education-violence-prevention#:~:text=Teaching%20consent%20is%20key%20to%20preventing%20sexual%20violence.&text=Healthy%20relationships%20are%20an.

Karam, Azza. “Education as the Pathway towards Gender Equality.” United Nations, The UN Chronicle –  www.un.org/en/chronicle/article/education-pathway-towards-gender-equality.

“Kenya.” Hofstede Insights – www.hofstede-insights.com/country/kenya/#:~:text=Kenyan%20culture%20measures%20high%20on,%E2%80%9Cthe%20winner%20takes%20all%E2%80%9D.

“Kenyan Culture.” Cultural Atlas – culturalatlas.sbs.com.au/kenyan-culture/kenyan-culture-family.

Letarte, Martine. “Combatting toxic masculinity in Africa.” IDRC, 19 Nov. 2021 – www.idrc.ca/en/stories/combatting-toxic-masculinity-africa.

McCarthy, Kevin. “‘Toxic Masculinity’ Leads to Mental Health Problems for Men.” Healthline, 16 Dec. 2016, – www.healthline.com/health-news/toxic-masculinity-mental-health-problems-for-men#:~:text=These%20masculine%20norms%20correlated%20with,of%20strong%2C%20loving%20social%20bonds.

Merchant, Amelia. Borgen Project, edited by Amelia Merchant, Global Poverty, Kenya, 14 Sept. 2018 –  borgenproject.org/tag/poverty-in-kenya/#:~:text=Around%2035.5%25%20of%20Kenya’s%20population,the%20population%20living%20in%20poverty.

By NTS staff

In Kenya, sexual violence remains a traumatic norm for women, with men being the perpetrators in the majority of cases. Today, nearly half of married women have experienced domestic or sexual violence with nearly the same percentage of men viewing this as permissible. To determine why this is the case, one must explore why exactly this cultural phenomenon exists. Simply blaming men for sexual violence is a short-sighted approach and will not lead to discovering the cause of rampant sexual assault. 

A 2016 study describes a number of cultural factors as to why sexual assault is so rampant in Kenya, with most of the causes stemming from sexism. Although women compose half of the population in Kenya, women only make up 30% of the labor force, Women are pushed into the more “stereotypical” roles of homemaking and childcare. The study posits that this lack of representation in the workforce then solidifies the dominance men have in Kenyan culture, ultimately leading to an imbalanced power dynamic between men and women in Kenyan society. Finally, the study describes how violence towards others is used by men as a form of social control. A documentary from the BBC elaborates on this; several men are interviewed, all of whom claim that beating one’s wife serves as her “initiation” to marriage and teaches her “discipline.” This combination of women being excluded from the labor force, long-held cultural biases against women, and the expression of male dominance through violence ultimately culminates in a society which makes sexual violence exceptionally prevalent.

Since there is little legal protection for women against sexual violence, legal punishment is a limited option, particularly in remote areas where there is not access to a sophisticated legal system. Therefore, the study posits that societal change is the easiest form of prevention and awareness.        The gold standard for reducing sexual violence (and ultimately reshaping how violence is viewed) is programming that educates men, helping them to build empathy for victims.  This training breaking down myths about rape and physical abuse, as well as trains bystanders to intervene in potential assault situations.  The few programs in existence have been exceptionally successful in creating a culture which both supports survivors of sexual assault and reduces the prevalence of sexual violence. 

But, establishing such programs in a society with such heavy biases can be difficult due to cultural push back. The United Nations funds several NGOs such as the UN Action or the Rape Network which enter third-world countries in an effort to correct cultural biases against women. Although establishing these programs nationwide will be difficult,  Nyamboyo Technical School is committed to building an all-gender curriculum modeled after such programs, offering it to both male and female students. This will not only improve the safety of students, but also serve as one of the first steps towards change. 

Sources:

https://theconversation.com/violence-against-women-in-kenya-data-provides-a-glimpse-into-a-grim-situation-170109

https://www.haven-oakland.org/assets/media/pdf/ChangingMen-best-practice-in-sexual-violence-education.pdf

https://www.communitypractitioner.co.uk/resources/2016/02/physical-and-sexual-violence-against-children-kenya-within-cultural-context

https://crimesolutions.ojp.gov/ratedpractices/91#pd

https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-africa-60089165?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=60089165%26Domestic%20violence%3A%20Kenya%E2%80%99s%20%27hidden%20epidemic%27%262022-01-24T00%3A00%3A52.000Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:bbc:cps:curie:asset:7a54ceb7-2eba-453c-b700-51cdfb6a103c&pinned_post_asset_id=60089165&pinned_post_type=share

By Jones Obiria

What do you do when the government closes schools for a month with only a few days’ notice?  When students who attend your school, depend on you, not just for education but also for the food, the vital nutrition to grow in mind and body?  Hungry bodies are vulnerable – to COVID, malaria, and other temptations that pray on teens.

Two weeks ago, the Kenyan government announced that schools in affected areas would close  for a month.  Why?  Malaria.  East Africa has been tormented by malaria this year, set off by unseasonable rains, then drought, then rains.  A perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.  Another unkindness of nature after two years of Covid.

Once again, the strategy is to shut things down, this time allowing the government to spray while the community cleans out all possible mosquito sources.  Mosquitoes breed everywhere – in puddles, pipes, bushes, and trash.  All villagers have been called upon to clean up their homes, street, and community common areas while the government, little by little, sprays each neighborhood to eliminate the mosquito population.

But at NTS, our students depend on us for food.  After every school break, it is not unusual to see weight loss – sometimes dramatic – as families go hungry.  It is not only heartbreaking but preventable.

So, enter the twice-weekly NTS Breakfast Club.  Every Monday and Thursday morning, students come to school for a hearty breakfast and a school update.  They hear about their programs, meet new teachers and staff, see friends, and share a healthy meal.  As they leave, they are given a 2-kilo bag of rice and beans – enough to get their family through the few days until the next breakfast club.

Rice and beans form a “perfect” protein.  While it’s hardly a feast, it keeps our sworn enemies, hunger and malnutrition at bay. Students get out of the house and have social time, positive contact with teachers and friends.  And families know that when their students come home, there will be sustenance for all. 

A full belly and a happy heart keep us all on track.

By NTS staff with research by Vivian Msafiri

In Kenya today, women struggle greatly with financial independence. According to the World Bank, two-thirds of the unbanked population are women. This inequality trickles into the social fabric where women lack funding for opportunities and as well as representation. To correct this income inequality within Africa, a grassroots organization called Village Community Banks, or VICOBA, has stepped in with a microfinance model that emphasizes female empowerment.

Specifically, VICOBA offers short-term loans to low-income people so they can use to pursue employment opportunities or domestic stability.  These loans, and the VICOBA process strengthens the community by creating a financial system within rural communities that promotes accountability and good governance.

VICOBA in Shinyanga – A Case Study

VICOBA has been particularly successful in the Tanzanian region of Shinyanga, approximately 500 miles from the Kenyan border. This VICOBA group, called the Rising Star Women, have been operating a VICOBA program for more than 8 years. In Shinyanga, the 30 female members meet monthly to take loans from VICOBA with a 10% interest rate. There is no limit to how much a member can borrow, which allows for members to have the financial freedom to purchase resources like food, water, and other essentials. Additionally, participating members pay into an emergency community fund which is used to pay for unforeseen circumstances, such as child delivery or medical costs. To further ensure accountability, three “referees” from the group of 30 are held responsible for the repayment of each loan.

Using this highly structured process, VICOBA has yielded significant results. In the Shinyanga, numerous women have testified that VICOBA brought life-changing financial assistance into their lives. Furthermore, the program’s reach has allowed communities to realize tangible improvements in children’s education, housing, and female leadership skills.

To join, a community must be referred by inside members or have a large party of individuals wanting to join. Once this is in place, sometimes an entrance fee must be paid to join – all of which is put back into VICOBA to benefit its members. The VICOBA branches which require an entrance fee base this price on the financial status of the prospective members – usually around 10,000 Tsh, equivalent to $4.30 –  which is detailed in that branch’s constitution. For more information, visit this link: http://kitegacc.org/campaigns/village-community-banking-vicoba/.

The collective impact of VICOBA has been widespread female empowerment and a movement towards female financial independence as more and more women are freed from pressing financial burdens compounded by a lack of access to capital that previously impacted them. VICOBA’s success can be seen in its rapid growth.  In five years, membership grew to over 50,000 members, accounting for nearly 30% of rural communities that were underserved by financial institutions. Furthermore, since its inception, VICOBA has been able to collect 30 billion Tanzanian shillings (Equivalent to 1.2 million USD) in a rotating fund for members. VICOBA’s highly organized model has been truly successful in empowering women and poorer communities across Africa and continues to grow today. 

By Megha Rana

Gender stereotypes are generalizations and/or assumptions made in regards to roles that women and men play, respectively, in a culture. While they differ from culture to culture and region to region, a shared and defining trait is how deeply ingrained these stereotypes have become in individual cultures and larger societies around the world. 

In Kenya and other East African countries, the traditional female role has been to run the household, to both grow and cook food, to bear and raise children, to carry water, and to be obedient to the husband.  In general, children have spent a majority of their time with their mothers or female relatives. In large families, it was not uncommon for older female siblings to help raise the children, sometimes pausing or completely sacrificing their education.  

The conventional male role has been to protect the family, providing safety and material support.  While the family structure depends to some degree on the tribe, men have generally headed the household, earning the majority of the money and making the important household decisions. 

Enter the modern, interconnected world and the pressures of modernization.  Today in East Africa, men and women alike are growing out of their ‘traditional’ roles. 

In Kenya, for example, there is a husband who works as a cattle broker and his wife is a schoolteacher. The husband does work which a decade ago would have been unthinkable:  He washes the dishes, does the laundry, and brings home firewood.  Why?  Because his schoolteacher wife is pregnant with their second child and he believes they should share the household workload. Or consider a retired secondary school principal in a rural region who has trained his wife in finances and now involves his wife in important family financial decisions. He is also helping his daughters develop their own voices through financial and leadership training. 

Most notable in East Africa is the growing numbers of female entrepreneurs.   Women are beginning to create their own solutions to problems, both by developing community services and businesses.  For instance, a local teacher in Tanzania saw a need for greater educational services in her community and spearheaded the movement to build a nonprofit school that she now leads. 

Increasingly, as climate change impacts the planet, gender roles must shift to keep cultures alive.   In Kenya, women from the ethnic Maasai tribe were forbidden to work.  Home was their sole sphere of influence.   Men were responsible for earning money, mainly through cattle rearing. However, recent recurring droughts have devastated many of the herds, resulting in women creating trades such as beadwork to provide a steady income.   In fact, in some Masaai communities it is now the women who go to work while the men stay at home to care for the home and family. 

A balance in long-held gender roles will take time. Altering centuries-long societal norms will require patience and developing a community-wide tolerance for discomfort. However, with the speed of change in our world no one is immune from shifting roles. As Robin Sharma eloquently sums it up, “Change is hard at first, messy in the middle, but beautiful in the end.”

Sources: 

https://www.voanews.com/a/kenya-changing-gender-roles/6366764.html

https://brighter-tz-fund.org/Blog/4902092

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/rural-kenya-traditional-gender-roles-equality/

By Megha Rana

The Maasai tribe of Kenya is a strict patriarchal society, where the men lead and hold all decision-making power. Traditionally, the woman’s role is to follow all male decisions while staying at home, tending to children and performing household duties.

Maasai women are deeply connected to their land and efforts to preserve their communities.  They have in-depth knowledge of local wildlife and the local ecology, making them ideal candidates to work on conservation efforts. But until recently, the community structure has denied them the opportunity to use their unique skills at a professional level.

In 2019, a group of young Maasai women stepped forward to challenge these  long-held gender roles.  Sponsored by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), they created Team Lioness, the first unit of all-women rangers in Kenya.

The women of Team Lioness are part of a ranger unit that protects the traditional land surrounding the Amboseli National Park. They are trained as anti-poaching rangers, acting as a first line of defense against the poaching of elephants, lions, giraffes, cheetahs, and other wildlife.

(Paolo Torchio/IFAW)

These Maasai women were the first females in their community’s history to secure employment. They are determined to shift gender roles so women have opportunity.  According to Purity Lakara, one of these first proud Maasai rangers,

“Women are only allowed to stay at home, looking after their kids and giving birth. We are not meant to stay just at home. No. We are educated to come and change the world. So that’s what we are doing right now.”

IFAW’s East African director, James Isiche, said this project was a tough pitch to the elders of the Maasai community. The patriarchal structure made it difficult to  convince them to allow IFAW to recruit Team Lioness.

In the end, Team Lioness has become so successful that there are plans to recruit even more women of the Maasai community, as well as create similar anti-poaching squads in other areas around Africa.  Ultimately, Team Lioness is breaking boundaries and building opportunities for not only themselves, but also for other women of the Maasai community.

Sources:

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/maasai-women-kenya-safari-reopening/index.html

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kenya-maasai-women-defy-gender-norms-anti-poaching-rangers-team-lioness/

https://www.ifaw.org/projects/team-lioness