AOR Jesuit Development Office

Kenya is a state party to various international & regional human rights instruments that guarantee the right to sexual & reproductive health. Furthermore, the Constitution of Kenya 2010, for the first time guarantees the right to health care including reproductive health. In spite of these elaborate measures, violations of the right to sexual and reproductive health continue to be experienced throughout the country. This is in terms of unavailability of essential sexual and reproductive health services, difficulties in accessing these services owing to distance or cost, the high charges levied on the services making them beyond the reach of majority poor, the poor quality of the available services and the lack of sensitivity to the cultural norms and beliefs of the people in service delivery. The state has also not complied with its obligation to dedicate the maximum of its available resources to progressively realize the right to sexual and reproductive health. Marginalized and vulnerable groups (people with disabilities, people living with HIV and AIDS, Adolescents and youth, internally displaced persons and refugees) are particularly noted as most vulnerable to these violations.

Children and young people are the ones who are the target of social and health injustices that surrounds them, more times than not, they fall victims of social defects, ignorance and backward patriarchal culture and as adults they end up contributing to the very problems that made them loose their way & suffer in the first place. Young people, who are just forming an identity and trying to understand who they really are, need to be empowered emotionally, intellectually, spiritually and health wise in order to face the challenges in their lives with confidence, dignity and with a sense of direction. 

In this project, The Jesuit Development Office, Eastern Africa, will provide comprehensive sexuality education, promote menstrual health, youth friendly service delivery and increase access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services to the poor, the marginalized and vulnerable people in Kenya.

This project will be carried out in selected geographical locations of Kakamega , Kitui , Narok  and Isiolo Counties in Kenya where the number of vulnerable young people and adults is inordinately increasing and causing the near-collapse of the social and community fabric. The project will involve young people between the age of 15 and 35 who are the main target group, and also adult multipliers between 36 and 50.
Jesuit Development Office will work with the young people who are the primary beneficiaries with the target of improving their sexual health.
JDO will also be partnering with the parents and guardians of the young people during buy in sessions so that they can offer full support and proper direction to their children.
JDO shall partner with the local community leaders whose position is to engineer policies and reinforce them. This is because the local leaders need to show solidarity and involve the young people in decisions that touch health matters.
JDO shall also partner with the officials from the Ministry of Health and Reproductive Health to give their expertise and enlightenment during facilitation at the second stage training with the young people and session with the parents, teachers and local leaders.
JDO shall also partner with the Ministry of Education, especially in the schools and learning institutions which forms a key area that the young people spend most of their time. Teachers and non teaching staff will also be engaged.

The project will target young women between the age of 15 and 35 , and also adult multipliers between 36 and 50.We intend to directly reach over 400 young people (aged between 15 and 35 years); and their host communities. We shall also directly reach over 400 adults comprising of parents, guardians, teachers, support staff and local leaders. 
Young people form a bigger percentage of the world’s population and will in the long run affect the achievement of the sustainable development goals to a large extent. Hence, increased awareness of these goals and their rights will give them a chance to adopt sustainable practices more so as pertains to reproductive health.

Jesuit Development Office will work with the young people who are the primary beneficiaries with the target of improving their sexual health. Through this project, JDO will help young people and allow them to become part of the building of a new world instead of getting lost in the chaos surrounding them. This project will help them become of service to humanity through the internalization of morals & through the realization of their physical & reproductive identity.
Since health issues are constantly evolving, young people need an outlet & a creative manner in which to engage with real life issues especially those concerning sexual & reproductive health as they are growing up &discovering themselves. Thus creative performing arts will allow the young people to use their imaginations, to have ideas, to generate multiple possible solutions to problems, to communicate in a variety of possible ways/forms & in general “think outside the box” when they encounter any challenges which regards to sexuality & reproductive health.
The confidence that performing arts brings will be vital for them when learning to make decisions & stand up for what they believe in. Likewise, performing art can contribute to develop critical visual literacy, which is undoubtedly necessary in a world that is increasingly filled with visual stimulus.

AOR Jesuit Development Office has implemented several projects in Kakamega, Kitui , Narok  and Isiolo counties and has established good working relationship with the gatekeepers ( representatives of select CSOs, Religious leaders of different faiths and solidarity groups of youth and women) in the communities as well as the residents of the communities. 

Our good rapport with the gatekeepers has been key in the implementation of projects and in needs assessment because they are a voice of reason and often find ready audience with policy makers, hence leaders and negotiators of change; they can rally people behind an issue and find grassroots support; and they are able to network to create a national attention using their bigger communities, in the same vein enable people understand the subject at hand more effectively through the religious and other platforms. 

Through the various projects implemented by the our organization, JDO serves over 20,000 persons annually. Below is a list of some of the projects implemented this year and the number of beneficiaries reached.

1. Drought response for ASALs in Kenya, particularly Kitui county - directly reached 12000 people though food distribution to 2000 households, tree planting exercises and livelihood trainings. 

2. Kangemi Slum WASH Project - Directly reached 10000 people through distribution of Hygiene products (sanitary pads, toothpaste, inner wears, toothbrush) to school children in Kangemi slums, construction of toilets, provision of water tanks and psychosocial support to parents, teachers and children. 

The project intends to use arts as core approach to SRH training. Creative performing arts will allow young women to use their imaginations, to have ideas, to generate multiple possible solutions to problems, to communicate in a variety of possible ways/forms and in general “think outside the box” when they encounter any challenges which regards to sexuality and reproductive health.

The confidence that performing arts brings will be vital for the young women when learning to make decisions and stand up for what they believe in. Likewise, performing art can contribute to develop critical visual literacy, which is undoubtedly necessary in a world that is increasingly filled with visual stimulus accessed on almost all social media platforms. Today, more than ever, it is essential to incorporate new content to the educational curricula, aimed at enabling “critical visuality” in students in order for them to overcome the adversities they are facing.

The potential of performing art as a training tool is to trigger transformation and to provide knowledge on how the development of creative and artistic skills can generate significant learning in the young people. This is key reason why performing art is able to enhance the young people’s learning experience because of its unique ability to accommodate many different learning styles and thus the ability to motivate the young people not to shy off from reality and eventually falling victims when they would have prevented it.

In addition, performing arts will challenge underlying structures of inequality and will also stimulate empowering processes and the fair restitution of cultural, social and basic rights since issues can be expressed freely without fear of intimidation from the structural leaders and adults who are in position of decision making. This will develop the young people’s critical thinking skills, will support their reflective thinking, and stimulate their imagination. It will also promote creative thinking, foster problem-solving skills, strengthen comprehension and retention, enhance the ability to work cooperatively, facilitate the development of communication skills, increase empathy and awareness of others, and reinforce a positive sense of self.

The project will foster a good and sound sexual identity and develop a moral conscience within these young people who will eventually carry it forward into the future generation. 

The main goal for this project is to have improved sexual and reproductive health information and service accessibility among young and the vulnerable women in the selected target geographical locations in Kenya.

In order to achieve the goal, JDO will carry out the following activities

1.Mobilization, training and mentoring young people (aged between 15 and 35 years) in the selected Counties through continuous content creation and submission to JDO for review and detoxication.
2. Form young people’s groups (students and pupils) in schools in the selected counties since this step will involve setting up of platforms and networks of student and parents’ groups for training and engagement.
3. Continuous training, forming, and mentoring young people to produce appropriate content in line with sexuality and reproductive health.
4. Follow -Up training support through improvised live performances - Training and mentoring young people using values that will include self-awareness, trust in self, courage, freedom and responsibility, knowledge and skills, space and time.
5. Organize training seminars for parents, guardians and the community buy-in sessions – Building skills for parents on how to interpret and use the informational material produced in their lessons. Most importantly, parents will learn how to create a better environment that supports children rights, healthy sexual and reproductive expressions.
6. Summit performances – This will be the final competition and award of winning prizes to the best performances with the theme on sexuality and reproductive health.
7. Developing resource materials- This will involve production of IEC materials such as posters, banners, brochures, t-shirts, short clips/videos and media materials.

This project will  help young people and allow them to become part of the building of a new world instead of getting lost in the chaos surrounding them. This project will help them become of service to humanity through the internalization of morals & through the realization of their physical & reproductive identity. Since health issues are constantly evolving, young people need an outlet & a creative manner in which to engage with real life issues especially those concerning sexual & reproductive health as they are growing up &discovering themselves. Thus creative performing arts will allow the young people to use their imaginations, to have ideas, to generate multiple possible solutions to problems, to communicate in a variety of possible ways/forms & in general “think outside the box” when they encounter any challenges with regards to sexuality& reproductive health. The confidence that performing arts brings will be vital for them when learning to make decisions & stand up for what they believe in. Likewise, performing art can contribute to develop critical visual literacy, which is undoubtedly necessary in a world that is increasingly filled with visual stimulus.

Full time staff = 12

Part time = 3

Jesuit Development office has implemented several similar projects in other regions. For instance, In 2022, JDO implemented a girls empowerment project in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia in which 100 girls were trained in SRH and 

 also be provided with personal reusable sanitary pads. 

This year, 2023, JDO has also implemented a simillar project in Kangemi slums in which 612 (350 girls)  vulnerable school going girls and boys were trained on SRH and issued with personal hygiene items namely; inner wears, sanitary pads, toothpaste and toothbrush. 

JDO through its various policies such as the gender policy, human resource policy and other key policies always strives to ensure equity and inclusivity in tis operations and activities. 

For instance, JDO's gender policy aims to advance women's equal participation with men in shaping the sustainable development goals  of the office. it also aims to support boys and girls in the realization of their human rights and lastly to reduce gender disparities at JDO. 

The project is a not for profit project.

JDO always seeks support from various partners to fund its various projects. JDO is also initiating local fund raising initiatives to support its operational costs.