Nurturing children in their early years to shine well in financial disciplines has proved to be a daunting task to many people in Kenya.
However, to some assertive entities within the country, the task of moulding the teenagers to adopt fine financial disciplines has been managed by taking them through tough economic empowerment modules.
These teachings have been asserted as the best options to make the young take an early stride to be all-time budgetary conscious, disciplined, and self-reliant in utilizing their hard-earned resources and becoming self-employed when they grow up.
Children are the future of any nation, and how they are raised to be financially disciplined and independent can make or break a country’s economic trajectory.
As the country struggles with the high rate of unemployment and the hard economic situation, it is wise to invest in the young minds to make them aware of what is required of them financially when they grow up.
In this regard, then, one organisation in Ntimaru, Kuria East Sub County, Migori County, has taken the cue and decided to champion early innovations of making children the center of social-economic empowerment.
Referred to as the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA)-Kenya, a faith-based non-governmental organization, has made holistic efforts to provide individual and community development for the perseverance of human well-being.
ADRA’s worthy programme has helped Kuria school-going children to venture into poultry and horticultural farming to generate income to be able cater for their education needs as well as take care of their parents’ households.
The organisation which is also a global entity, works with people in poverty and distress to create a just and positive change through empowering partnerships and responsible actions.
For the last three years, the NGO has been nurturing and economically empowering the Kuria school-going children in primary schools to fight negative vices like Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), teenage pregnancies, and early marriage.
Merja Heikkila, a Senior Project Coordinator from ADRA Finland, says that the programme dubbed ‘Empower Her’, recognises the need to empower children when they are young to create a self-reliant society.
Through the ‘Empower Her’ project, ADRA has been focusing on empowering school-going children with projects like poultry and horticulture to shape their education and economic welfare.
The four-year project, which started in 2022, has so far empowered 1,600 pupils from the Kuria region and more than 100 women groups through various agricultural and poultry ventures.
Heikkila says that the programme is tailored in a way that it can identify a need at the grassroots level to address challenges facing the Kuria children like FGM, school dropout, and teenage pregnancy.
The project has witnessed success stories from the community, an inspiration that speaks volumes through positive economic change for children and their parents or guardians.
While speaking in Kuria, Heikkila disclosed that their main goal is to empower the community economically through children to help pursue their education dreams and eliminate negative vices like child labour and FGM.
He added that children are the best start in life to enhance economic and financial training to make them better persons financially in future.
The official also acknowledged that challenges in the implementation of the ‘Empower Her’ are still there but added that they can only be addressed together as a community.
“May I call upon the community to unite and empower our women and children to bring a lasting impact to the Kuria community,” said Heikkila.
According to Ntimaru Sub County Social Development Officer Steven Marwa, the region used to record higher rates of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), teenage pregnancy, school dropout and early marriage vices.
Since the inception of the ‘Empower Her’ programme in 2022, the rate of school dropouts has reduced from 20 percent to 8 percent in the sub-county.
The project also aims to identify challenges that were unseen to improve and generate workable solutions before the lapse of the project late this year.
Martynas Baltiejus, ADRA Finland Country Director, acknowledged that the community can be improved through their own ways when children are put in at the center of change.
He said that change can be realised if the community can work together to address challenges facing the Kuria community while at the same time empowering positive traditions and cultures in schools and colleges to generate income.
“We do not want to change the cultural and tradition natural of how the Kuria Society operates but rather give workable alternatives to help curb and address challenges facing the Kuria community,” said Baltiejus.
She explained that the project success story has kept the dreams of Kuria children alive with the hope that the next generation will reap the full benefits of the economic ventures.
Scholar Nyomahe, a beneficiary of the project through her grade six child, said that the project has enabled her child to rear poultry that generates income for the homestead as well as caters to her school needs.
She thanked the organization for championing the empowerment programme to shape the lives of Kuria children and shield them from negative vices like FGM.
Maneno Aroko, Head of Institution at Matare Primary School in Ntimaru, said that apart from generating income for the children, the projects were serving as practical courses for the Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) students.
Aroko explained that the project was an eye-opener in the region, helping the community to reduce school dropouts, teenage pregnancy, and early marriages.
Since 2023, we have not heard of any case of children dropping out of school, a significant milestone that the project ‘Empower Her’ has created in the hearts of learners and the Ntimaru community,” concluded Aroko.
By Makokha Khaoya and George Agimba
