Our Programs
1. Economic empowerment and livelihood (street business school)
High levels of unemployment and lack of economic freedom among women in Homa Bay highly contributes to Mental, Health and Gender-Based Violence cases among women and children in the region. The effects of this are adverse when a woman is infected or affected with HIV/AIDS. These effects are felt beyond Homa Bay alone as the larger society and economy are well affected as well. Activate Action seeks to improve the economic status of women and contribute to their financial freedom and sustainability through projects that aim at reducing the entrepreneurship gap for women living/affected with HIV in rural Homa Bay by 30% through their participation.
Activities
- Entrepreneurship capacity building and Development of knowledge and skills for women using the street business model
- Mentorship and giving of grants to fund their business ideas and expand already existing businesses.
- Follow-up sessions to support the participants as they open their business and deal with the challenges and opportunities
- Linking women to business development support services
2. Advocacy and Leadership
Existing SRHR policy systems and structures in Kenya often exclude the voices and representation of young people including the marginalized groups of youths. In partnership with public and private sector actors supporting structural change and sustainable practices that protect the rights of young people including those living with HIV and disabilities Activate Action advocates for:
- Inclusion of young people in all stages of developing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating programs, policies, and investment of resources
- Diverse representation that goes beyond tokenism and includes young people’s engagement from marginalized populations.
- Young people’s access to accurate information and training when necessary, in order to effectively understand the technical content, the political context, and the stakeholders with whom they are engaging.
- Power-sharing between and among stakeholders so that young people are partners and leaders, rather than beneficiaries
- Clear and transparent communication that everyone can understand — no jargon
3. Health and Education
Kenya has a high prevalence of adolescent pregnancies with close to 20% of girls aged 15 to 19 either pregnant or already a teen mother. Adolescent girls who have early and unintended pregnancies face many social and financial barriers to continuing with formal education. Low access to and use of adolescent sexual reproductive health services among youths is also a challenge contributing to high HIV prevalence among young people.To minimize this:
- Activate Action runs two youth-friendly SRHR centers where young people are able to access free information and services on HIV testing and counseling, contraceptive, Mental health, Adherence counseling, psychosocial counseling, ANC and PNC.
- We work towards improving access to sexual and reproductive health information and services for adolescents. We strive to ensure inclusiveness to all people in need of reproductive health services including teenage mother, adolescents living with HIV, young people living with disability, adolescent boys and girls, LGBTI youths, and adolescent who sell sex.
- We promote and enhance school re-enrolment for teenage mothers by;
- Creating awareness on school re-enrollment policy
- Conducting de-stigmatization campaign for students, teachers, and headteachers on how to treat returning teen mothers as many teen mothers do not return to school as a result of ostracization by their peers and teachers
- Offering Counseling services to teen mothers in and out of school and involve teen fathers and parents where possible
- Providing Sanitary pads and menstrual cups to teen mothers to help keep them in school
Our Work in Action
