Let’s take a short journey together through the eyes and shoes of Naserian, a 9-year-old girl with a future as wide as the earth ahead of her. Naserian is in grade 2, eager to learn, pass her exams and hopes to become a doctor. Unfortunately, this may only remain a dream for Naserian.
She is among the majority of Maasai women in Kenya destined to live a life of poverty and cultural oppression. Even with free primary school education in Kenya, only 48 per cent of Maasai girls enrol, and only 10 per cent of these make it to secondary school. By the time Naserian is 13, she might be circumcised and soon afterwards married off to a man chosen by her father in exchange for cattle and cash. Her world of possibility has sadly been reduced to the confines of her culture.
But,
What if Maasai girls like Naserian had power over their bodies and their future?
What if Boys and Girls had equal opportunities in Education?
Can we build a national movement of girls' clubs that leverage storytelling to ensure girls have the community and safe spaces they need to thrive?
These are a few bold questions that our fellows dared to ask.
Just like Naserian, Jedidah Lemaron witnessed first-hand the inequality and gaps in her community from lack of basic infrastructure to gender discrimination against women and girls. As a result, she founded The Malkia Initiative in 2015 to bridge the gap.
Judy Munene developed a passion for supporting girls’ education which was birthed by an unfortunate incident when she was in class seven (7). A group of girls dropped out of her class because they felt too big to learn with the small girl that she was. They became teenage mothers soon after and engaged in casual labour to cater for their children.
Lillian Wamuyu is passionate about community development with over 15 years of experience in community-based programmes. Her vision is to build a transformative and integrative social enterprise, especially for the benefit of marginalized families.
Metis had facilitated the common ground in which these grassroots leaders stand and has made it possible for collective conversations and impactful collaborations to take place to make it possible for girls like Naserian to have a different outcome. Since 2018, Metis has enabled 4 million learners like Naserian, across Kenya to access quality education by equipping education leaders like Jedidah, Judy and Lilian to create contextualized innovations for their communities.
Our knowledge-sharing opportunities have enabled leaders to problem-solve, learn, and collaborate for collective impact.
You too can be part of this. ReimaginED our annual learning summit, will take place on the 9th of December 2022. We have the privilege of bringing together changemakers to reimagine education in Kenya. This event provides a platform for innovators to showcase their work while showing #OurDreamForKenya.
We aim to bring to life the possibility of “Accelerating competency-based learning” by taking a journey through the “What is” “What if” and, “What now” in education.
This journey is a step toward our vision of A world where leaders and learners thrive. Will you be part of it?