Kenya Equity in Education Project (KEEP Project)

With the KEEP Project, the Girl Child Network recognizes that girls and children with disabilities in ASAL regions (Kajiado and Turkana Counties) in Kenya face barriers in access to education. The KEEP project seeks to reduce/eliminate these barriers in three levels; the individual level, the school level and the community level through strategies such as social mobilization, sensitization and awareness creation, advocacy, direct support, capacity building and community conversations. The interventions are designed and implemented to provide thousands of children in ASAL regions with access to clean water, improved sanitation and hygiene as well as knowledge on their rights and responsibilities as a means to protect them from abuse. The Girl Child Network work with the national government, county governments, schools, families and communities to create safe spaces for children to learn, be protected and nurtured to thrive, irrespective of their age, gender or disability. They also partner with schools, families and communities to train teachers, school boards of management, children and the youth to ensure we leave no one out. In addition to this, they also conduct extensive awareness exercises to underscore the importance of education with a view of changing the community attitudes on girls and children with disabilities participation in education. Provision of a feeding programme in the project schools helps retain children in school and also ensures  drought does not negate the impact of the project on empowerment of girls and women.