We appreciate the hardship that comes with being a widow, the need to access vital legal, economic, health and psycho-social support services which are not to easily available.
According to the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics 2014, an estimated 894,853 women are widowed. The majority live in the rural areas or slum settlements in towns.
Because we understand the challenges involved, we make a deliberate effort to minimize them by providing legal counsel to this group of vulnerable women that are often mistreated, and have their rights violated by being forced into cultural marriages, traditional cleansing rituals and are in most cases evicted from their matrimonial homes at the death of their spouses.
As such we create legal awareness on the succession process, land rights and related widow’s rights to empower them safeguard their property and protect their dignity as well as that of their families.
We also partner with organizations involved in improving the welfare of widows. One such organization is the RONA foundation that provides widows with both psycho-social and economic services to enable them get an opportunity to improve their lives or better yet have a second chance in life to take care of themselves and their families.
Haki Mashinani is focused on eradicating gender inequality by combating sexual harassment and gender based violence both at the community level and the work place.
From our experience in the flower farms and at the local outlets we appreciate that most casual labourers comprise of women. As such they are vulnerable to being sexually harassed at the work place, workers’ quarters and in the community.
On the verge of such a vice there lacks adequate reporting methods and sufficient justice processes in place to enable female workers easily report sexual harassment incidents and follow up on the same. This is despite that some farms have sexual harassment policies. Worse still is that because of the intimate intrusion opening up to narrate this incidents becomes a hurdle
Haki Mashinani therefore creates awareness about sexual harassment to both the labourers as well as the farmers and advocates for transparent reporting mechanisms and disciplinary action to be taken. At the community level we advocate for police stations to have a gender desk manned by a female police officer who should be trained to receive and handle sexual harassment related cases in a manner that protects the dignity of the victim.
In a new age, girls in both primary and secondary school are becoming more sexually active as they discover their sexuality and as they brace being young adults. Because of this young girl between the ages of 11 and 18 need care and advice as they form a crucial vulnerable group.
Due to their young age and against the backdrop of poverty most girls in the rural areas as well as in the slum settlement are vulnerable to being sexually exploited. This leads to early teenage pregnancies and eventually to child mums.
Haki Mashinani recognizes that in order to achieve gender equality there is need to provide correct guidance and counselling these young girls on the dangers of engaging in sexual activities at a young age, to provide awareness on both the availability and access to contraceptives and reporting methods of sexual harassment at school, home and in the community.
Most importantly is to involve care givers and make them appreciate the role they play as teachers, parents and guardians. Similarly there is need to establish or to use existing health centers to avail reproductive health care services to young girls.
Similarly, at police stations there is need to advocate for a gender desk that receives and handles child sex abuse cases in manner sensitive to the victim’s needs.
On the legal frontier, Haki Mashinani provides legal counsel about the criminal justice system where a girl has been defiled or sexually assaulted and provides pro-bono representation to assist prosecute related cases via our referral system.
