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Badilisha Project

Korogocho Informal Settlement, Nairobi, Kenya

Overview

This project aims to reduce poverty, improve mental and physical health, and improve educational and wellbeing outcomes for children, by equipping approximately 300 women engaging in transactional sex for survival in the informal settlement of Korogocho, Nairobi to find alternative livelihoods and reintegrate into their communities, while supporting the education and wellbeing of their children (approx. 600 total).

Background

Women transitioning out of the sex trade have multi-faceted and complex needs and pressures, and need comprehensive support. It is crucial that various stakeholders (government, private sector, community and NGOs) work together to support them (Hester and Westmarland 2004). This was also made clear in the pilot project, where the NGO 'At a Heart of a Woman' (ATTHOW) worked together with various partners to provide a multi-pronged intervention to the beneficiaries.

Proposed Interventions

Overview

This project proposal builds on the two pilot schemes of 'At a Heart of a Woman' (ATTHOW), by providing an even more comprehensive, multi-component intervention, with a range of partners which each have established expertise and experience in their area. These proposed interventions include:

Health and Wellbeing

Including mental, physical, sexual and reproductive health. Trauma counselling/therapy, mental health awareness and stress management, managing substance misuse, providing information on sexual and reproductive health, testing for HIV/AIDs.

Economic empowerment and digital arts and entrepreneurship

Including financial skills, budgeting and literacy training in order to be eligible for a wider range of jobs, vocational training and assisting the beneficiaries to set up or get involved in alternative income generating activities. Digital literacy training to enable women to use the internet to market, expand and promote their businesses and a voluntary savings and lending programme amongst the participants.

Sustenance support

Including weekly food baskets and a weekly meal provided to the beneficiaries. This is to help meet the nutritional needs of participants and their families without having to engage in transactional sex, and to help enable their participation in the project.

Support for the education of participants’ children

Including covering the costs of school fees and uniforms, in order to reduce the financial pressure on participants and thereby to help enable them to not resort to transactional sex and to facilitate their participation in the project.

Kids’ club

Run by ATTHOW once per week for participants’ children, to be a safe space for them to play, receive support with school, and have opportunities to become involved in arts-based and creative projects.

Peer support and education

Women participating in the project, will be provided with the means to provide information, support and mentoring to other women in Korogocho who need support. Some of the women from the pilot intervention are already helping other women in the community.

Project Proposal

Primary

The primary beneficiaries to this project are 300 women and their collective, approximately 600 children aged under 10 years mobilized from different ethnic groups within the informal settlement of Korogocho.

Indirect

Indirect beneficiaries will be the local community, including other women engaged in the commercial sex trade in Korogocho whom the beneficiaries can provide information and peer-to-peer support to.

Selection Process

In the 6-month preparatory phase of the 36-month project, the project leadership will meet with relevant stakeholders including from government and local civil society to discuss the project, including ethics and working with vulnerable groups. The participants will be identified with the involvement of these stakeholders, and selected based on their level of need. Selection will prioritise highly vulnerable women engaging in sex for survival who are poor, lacking literacy skills, marginalised, and survivors of physical and emotional abuse. At the same time, the project team will design the tools for engaging the participants in the project, including consent forms and research instruments for the sessions.

Interventions

Following this preparatory phase, the selected interventions will be carried out with the participants over the course of 12 months. During this time, the weekly food baskets and drop-in sessions, as well as the Kids’ Club, will continue. At the end of this phase, participants will be provided with any further assistance required to realise their plans, e.g. start-up kits for businesses.

Monitoring and Evaluation

Monitoring and evaluation will be a continuous process undertaken by the project team. This includes mixed-method data collection (surveys, focus groups and individual interviews) at the beginning (baseline), midterm, and upon completion of the interventions. Data collection will be carried out at each of these 3 stages with the participants and project team, and will also be carried out with government stakeholders and session facilitators at the final stages. This will allow for the measurement of progress and effective implementation of the project.

Project Partners