Smart young mums

Most young mums between the age of 14-35 years from underprivileged families end up doing casual jobs because they could not complete their primary level education or could not access higher education (university/college). Most of them are smart women working as domestic workers. This is because their parents/guardians did not see the need for them to continue with school as they are supposed to take care of their children. 

Apart from young mums we have other women mostly who dropped out of school due to financial challenges and decided to do the most available job that is domestic worker. 

Therefore these women not being educated or even certified to do their jobs, they are usually abused, physically, emotionally and professionally. It is sad that domestic workers do a lot of work including long working hours but they are underpaid and mistreated. Surprisingly these are the same people left to take care of the employers children and the elderly and even disabled children.

Recently in Kenya there has been high rates of domestic workers mistreating children and the people left in their care. According to most responses this because the violaters are themselves mistreated thus taking it out on those who depend on them.

The community also do not value these people as they are considered the low class and even looked at as servants. This in fact is considered a job that is not worthy and one that a person should be ashamed of.

Solutions to these problems can be:

1. Empower these women through training and certification on providing care services.

2. Provide them with a channel to report abuse and violations to their rights by employer or any other party.

3. Train them on human rights

4. Advocate for their rights and dignity restoration.

5. Offer psychosocial support

6. Enable school dropouts to continue with school/ access higher education.

7. Provide quality day care services for women/girls who cannot afford them and those with disabilities.

Target population: 

Young mums (14-35yrs) these are the primary care givers to young children and mostly shape their destinies. Most of them especially single mums have their children and families depending on them but are denied opportunities because they are considered too needy. 

Domestic workers, their jobs considered not worthy and are mostly abused by employers either due to lack of knowledge on their rights or because they cannot complain due to fear of rejection or the power to pursue cases after they report to authorities.

School dropouts- women from poor families, most of them wish to continue with school or higher education but are limited due to financial challenges or family responsibilities (taking care of younger siblings, ailing parents or the elderly)

My group is made up of young mums and most of them have a lived experience in mental health. One of the main problems faced is lack of training and support. The community barely address their issues because once you become a mum you are considered to know enough to take care of yourself.

Most of these mums are doing domestic work because they have no professions  and have no hope of ever getting formal employment.

Being a mental advocate, I have gained the community's trust and they depend on me to bring change.

The project aims at improving the quality of life for care workers by helping them get back their dignity and the ability to request for better pay through certification.

Also this project is aiming at training all women on human rights of course prioritizing the most vulnerable.

Lastly train beneficiaries to become advocates for themselves and others.

1. Financial support to run the project

2. Technical support in terms of running the group 

3. Legal support- trainings on human rights and legal action upon violations

This is not a common project in my community because domestic workers are overlooked. Having partially worked in that sector I have witnessed the humiliation faced by this group of people. 

My approach is different in that apart from working with a group that has been overlooked over the years I also want to empower them in building their capacity and worth. Comparing two care workers one with a certificate and one without, the certified one has a chance of being well paid and also earn respect. Also this solution removes the stereotype that people doing the job have no other option rather they chose the job because they think it is worth.

Also this project aim to protect the ones affected from being violated by standing up for themselves or having a channel to get the justice incase of violations.

Empower one woman to empower another one.

Enable women to maximize their potential and bring impact to the community.

Restore dignity for domestic workers by valuing their work.

Making it possible for mums to work without worrying if their children are looked after, by offering day care services.

First we formed a group of young mothers where we offer psychosocial support.

We are discussing challenges faced and possible solutions.

Looking to get into partnerships with related organisation.

Looking for funding to enable achieve set goals

I got this idea because I benefited from similar cause. I was trained and offered opportunities that I would never have taken up otherwise. Through this I have been able to discover that I had more potential than I ever thought and it opened up more opportunities for me. Therefore I know for sure if this worked for me it can work on other young women like me who just need the support.

Being a woman and being considered a primary care giver, it means that the woman has a big impact in the community and on the people that depend on them. Being the highest number of domestic workers namely house helps/manager they are left to care for the most vulnerable people but are barely empowered to perform these duties. 

On our trainings the workers will also be trained on using different household machines and in future provide them to make work easier.

Noting that we also hold most meetings online there is an aspect of technology. And of course we aim to do advocacy on social media.

Our group is open to working with all people despite the cultural, political or ethnic differences.

Every member is treated equally and has equal access to opportunities depending on their capabilities.