Our JOURNEY SINCE 2001

Advocates for Social Change Kenya (ADSOCK) was established in 2001 and over years, the bedrock of our programming and engagement are centered on community mobilisation, capacity strengthening, lobbying and advocacy activities in promoting gender equality and social justice. We focus more on collective and institutional levels of change by encouraging contextually nested approaches and collaborations to sustainably influence particularly men and boys through policy and practice at community and institutional levels.

The organisation has a pool of women and men activists, who engage in community education work, advocacy and campaigns, in order to challenge unequal gendered power relations, transform harmful and restrictive masculinities, and put an end to intractable social ills like Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in diverse communities across Kenya. At the community level, ADSOCK endeavour to draw on the knowledge and expertise of women as well as men – since research shows that this knowledge is extremely valuable for developing appropriate and effective interventions for addressing gender inequities in different communities. Since its inception, ADSOCK have worked with different stakeholders to ensure its programmes reach a wide audience and particularly people at the grassroots level through Gender Transformative Approaches (GTA) to counter discriminatory social norms.

ADSOCK’s community activism and programmes have provided a foundation to advance human rights centered around four main strategic directions and priorities i.e., Communication and Advocacy, Capacity Building, Survivors Support, Research and Development. The focus areas have been identified based on the foundation laid in the last twenty (20) years of ADSOCK’s existence. The concerted efforts and priorities have been ground- breaking and daring.

ADSOCK has a clear set of objectives and we are allied with numerous partners, who seek the realization of gender equality, promotion of human rights and social justice. The following steps will be taken to lay the groundwork for our collective actions: 

  • Strengthening and mobilizing partnerships with community leaders, community and faith-based organizations, men and boys to tackle entrenched gender stereotypes. Equally important to this task is ensuring that conventional and social media and communications partners strategically support shaping attitudes and behaviours to reverse gender inequality;
  • Re-structuring and upgrading our effectiveness, and presence on the ground, at both national and local levels; and
  • Filling critical gaps that exist in generating and using data, statistics, evidence, and analysis on gender equality and social justice in the areas where we operate.

ADSOCK has collaborated with the following organizations

ADSOCK has made tremendous achievements because of the commitment of its own membership and the support of partners who had the foresight to appreciate the role of men in fighting gender inequality and specifically the elimination of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV). The list below may not be exhaustive but the following partners including individuals have been key to our success.