Programmes
GROOTS programs in reflection of putting grassroots women first, are designed and implemented by the grassroots women in the understanding that no one can truly understand the needs of grassroots women better than they can.
Community Resilience to Disasters and Climate Change
Women are the most affected by the effects of climate change. Research has shown for example that women are disproportionately affected by climate change. UN figures indicate that 80% of people displaced by climate disasters are women. This is further compounded by their primary care giving roles and provider of food and fuel. In Kenya women’s vulnerability increases when they have to walk long distances in search of firewood. To mitigate this, GROOTS Kenya has partnered with several county government including Kitui to promote rural women’s access to clean energy and for the government to allocate resources to train women on mitigation strategies and increase their access to clean energy
Women & Property
This programme addresses women’s limited access, control and ownership of land and other productive resources. While the Kenyan constitution and subsequent laws strongly speak to the right of women to own land, if asked, every single Kenyan would state that their culture prescribes against women inheriting land. This difference between law and practice limits women’s access to land. Grassroots women have engaged with policy makers, nationally and regionally to develop a charter on Women’s land rights. Among pastoralists communities women face bigger challenges because land is communally owned and registration is through the ranch system which is male dominated, with registration and subsequent benefits emanating from the male member of the household. GROOTS is supporting pastoralist women to ensure that first of all the ranch leadership adheres to the 2/3rd gender principle by including women in the leadership, and secondly that women are recognized as legitimate shareholders in the group ranches whether or not they are married.
The need to ensure women’s economic empowerment has led GROOTS to support grassroots women to establish a grassroots SACCO.
Women Leadership & Governance
That there is a dearth of women in public leadership and decision-making positions is not debatable. It is seen in all spheres of public leadership. We strongly believe in the leadership capacity of all women from all social levels. GROOTS has demonstrated this belief by ensuring that rural women sit in GROOTS Kenya Supreme decision-making body. We have also built women’s capacity to enable them take up leadership at different levels of decision making from school and hospital boards, to CDF committees, County offices as well as political leadership among others.
In light of the Sustainable Development Goals, Vision 2030, MTPIII and the 2nd generation CIDPs, GROOTS Kenya has supported grassroots women to generate community data to monitor service delivery for grassroots communities
The need to ensure women’s economic empowerment has led GROOTS to support grassroots women to establish a grassroots SACCO.
Community Responses to HIV/AIDs
At the height of the HIV epidemic as we all remember, many men and women who were infected faced a long of stigma and neglect from the community. Grassroots women took up the role of Volunteer care givers to many of the infected. Over the years, the grassroots volunteers worked without pay supporting communities deal with the effects and ravages of the disease. Through their efforts, the community members have lobbied to ensure that their care giving role has been recognized by the government and their work recognized and resourced by government
In light of the Sustainable Development Goals, Vision 2030, MTPIII and the 2nd generation CIDPs, GROOTS Kenya has supported grassroots women to generate community data to monitor service delivery for grassroots communities
The need to ensure women’s economic empowerment has led GROOTS to support grassroots women to establish a grassroots SACCO.