Charo wa mae Road, Kilifi town, Kenya.
What We Do
Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation. Violence is often intensified during crisis or conflict.
Violence against women and girls is a human rights violation. Violence is often intensified during crisis or conflict.
In Kenya, violent extremist activity has tended to be clustered in the North Eastern region which borders Somalia and the Coastal region in the southeast (YMCA, 2018) leading to violence against women and girls. Lamu County, where this project is located experience highest levels of vulnerability and significant violence against women and girls.
Awer Women Empowerment was founded in 2018 as indigenous women of Awer tribe affected by conflict. It is was founded by 2 ex-conflict concubines (women affected by conflict through rape and slavery) from Boni, Lamu District of Kenya who had been kidnapped and trafficked to neighboring country Somalia as sex slave and forced labour for the Al-shabaab fighters and terror group.
Awer community in Lamu County, coastal Kenya has been a frequent target of terrorist attacks. During community raids by the terror group, women and girls are kidnapped from their communities, raped and taken as slaves. When they return, often bearing their rapists’ children, they are ostracized or rejected by their community and relatives. Community and the cultural body to which they belong declared the rescued women as lacking purity and therefore cannot be reintegrated back. Most of these women have settled in villages and trading centres away from their relatives who disowned them. Ex-conflict concubines, as they are known in Lamu, lack social access and have no interaction with other clan members or relatives. Ex conflict concubines lack social access and have difficulties earning a living.The women and girls in Lamu face sexual violence and the subsequent discrimination of the victims by the community and relatives coupled with inadequate measures from local and national Government to prevent the violence and address the needs of the survivors of violence.Those engaged in trade are often despised and mistreated by other women traders or relatives.
So we’re standing up for women’s economic rights.
Unpaid care work, lack of fair and job security, poor working conditions, and limited opportunity to own and control land and inherit property are all undermining women’s rights. Women can’t earn a living and take control of their lives.
When a woman doesn’t have the freedom to earn a wage, have social security or own her own land or property, it affects everything – from her ability to make her own choices to an increased risk of violence.
Our focus is on ex-conflict women who are facing economic distress. Ex-conflict women engaged in trade are often despised and mistreated by other women traders or relatives. Ex conflict concubines have difficulties earning a living, because of all these challenges and others including lack of soft skills on entrepreneurship and capital to initiate businesses.
Awer Women Empowerment is deeply involved in promoting gender equality by advocating participation and involvement of Indigenous women in all areas of development
We undertake this through several activities such as building capacity of Indigenous women and girls to create awareness and enhance their knowledge on social, economic and political issues around them and advocating for Women’s rights to enable them participate fully in all areas of social and economic development.
We believe in working collectively together and mainstreaming Gender in development of our communities by ensuring that Indigenous communities, women, girls are involved collectively.
We play a crucial role in helping to plug gaps in the environmental conservation by by conducting research to facilitate public training on environmental conservation
Environmental conservation is the practice of us humans saving the environment from the loss of species, and the destruction of the ecosystem, primarily due to pollution and human activities. Conservation is vital in saving and helping both animals and trees as we are all dependent on one another for survival.
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About
Awer Women Empowerment stands up for the rights of indigenous women in Kenya who have experienced violence, be they victims of human trafficking, sexual exploitation and prostitution, forced marriage or other violence. We offer psychosocial care, organize medical or legal support, help in finding housing and jobs and vocational training.
Contacts
Email:info@awerwomen.org
awerwomen@gmail.com
Charo Wa Mae Road,Kilifi town, Kenya.
Phone: +254733373130