Safer Spaces for Women and Girls (SSWAG) project

Target Counties: Turkana, Kisumu, Busia and Narok.

Donor: UN Women

Project Duration: 21/05/2021-31/11/2023

Partners: State and non-state actors in the project counties. These include the county governments, Cultural Religious and Administrative Leaders, community-level youth friendly and disability friend CSOs, FBOs.

Intended Outcomes: This project is aimed at achieving two main outcomes namely:

1. Improved policy environment and enhanced Capacity to deal with GBV and COVID-19 in institutions and communities for effective GBV prevention and response work.
2. Enhanced Civic engagement and political participation in communities and in institutions.

Project Description/Introduction

The Safe Space for Women and Girls (SSWAG) Project is a three-year UN-Women funded project being implemented by Advocates for Social Change-Kenya in the counties of Turkana, Kisumu, Busia and Narok. Under the devolution work, ADSOCK seeks to achieve a number of objectives among them: Improved policy environment and enhanced Capacity to deal with Gender- Based Violence (GBV) and COVID-19 in institutions and communities for effective GBV and Violence Against Children (VAC) prevention and response; Increased accesses to specialized survivor support services by individuals among them women, men, young women and men, boys and girls; Improved counties capacity for effective implementation of child protection and GBV prevention and response services; and Improved County data management systems for effective planning, generation of disaggregated data on GBV, Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), VAC, child marriages and marginalized populations including Persons With Disability (PWDs) at county level, for evidence-based decision making at both levels of government for improved service delivery.

The Multi-Partner Funded Trust Fund (MPTF) work is aimed at enhancing civic engagement and political participation in communities and in institutions; Increased civic engagement and participation in decision making and political processes in institutions by individuals among them young women and men; Enhanced capacity and support for GBV champions and human rights defenders to conduct women’s safety audits, raise awareness, prevent and respond to GBV; and Women, young women, men and young men at community and individual levels are sensitized and mobilized to work in favour of gender justice, GBV and VAC Prevention and Response and COVID-19 inhibition.