WomenOne has established a center-based program to support the education and empowerment of at-risk children, especially adolescent girls, in Nanyuki, Kenya. The development of this program, the Center of Worth (CoW), was informed by previous WomenOne research and contextualized with input from our local partners. Two primary offerings of the CoW include: (1) social-emotional and academic counseling opportunities, and (2) life-skills and voc /tech education modules delivered to students during their academic breaks.

WomenOne will pilot a 14-month center-based program to support the education and empowerment of approximately 150 at-risk adolescent girls in Nanyuki, Kenya. This center will be called the Center of Worth (CoW), the development of which will be informed by previous WomenOne research and contextualized with input from local partners. 

The 2 primary offerings of the CoW will include: (1) after-school tutoring and counseling opportunities, and 2) life-skills and vocational education modules delivered to students during their academic breaks.

Why focus on breaks? Two high-risk populations, street kids and adolescent girls, need extra supports to keep them on-track for personal and professional empowerment. Kenyan schools are unable to meet these needs with their limited resources. In non-school hours and during the 3 months of mandatory breaks in the Kenyan academic calendar,these students become particularly vulnerable. They have no safe space where they can study and they lack positive peer or adult influences. They become particularly susceptible to early pregnancy, forced marriage, substance abuse and illegal activity.