THE NEED:

Half of all girls in Kenya will not complete secondary school; and evidence shows that this is largely due to high instances of early pregnancy, early marriage, and gender-based violence (GBV). Adolescent girls served by Flying Kites are uniquely vulnerable, not just because they live in underserved rural areas, but because girls in primary school have limited access to age-appropriate resources on menstrual health management (MHM), sexual- and reproductive health (SRH), and GBV.

OUR APPROACH:

From our Teacher Training Center, we train female teachers to launch and lead Girls United Clubs designed to equip girls in early puberty with the knowledge they need to make healthy and informed choices about their bodies, their education, and their future. The core objectives of our Girls United Program include:

• Development of knowledge & skills in core curricular focus areas of MHM, SRH, GBV, and gender equity.

• Access to assets & resources, including trained and supported female teachers as Girls United Club Leaders, sufficient sanitary pads and period products, and access to private latrines and hand-washing facilities at school.

• Demonstration of bodily integrity, including a clear understanding of their human rights, the confidence and skills to identify and address instances of GBV, and the knowledge they need to make informed choices about their health and bodies.

With support from The L’Oréal Fund For Women, we are digitizing Girls United in order to increase girls' access to critical information in resource-poor settings and scale our work more broadly. Our innovative series of animated videos is centered on Kenyan girls sharing contextualized health information and delivered in a digital format that is accessible and downloadable for private viewing, putting the girls themselves in the driver’s seat of their learning. These digital resources are designed for delivery through our Girls United Program utilizing government-issued school tablets and have the potential to reach hundreds of thousands of girls across Kenya.