Mwangaza Project
Empowering 800 Kenyan women and girls with tools to thrive and exit poverty for good
Mwangaza is a three-year livelihood project with the goal of empowering 800 marginalised Kenyan women and girls by improving their income-generating capacity and confidence.
Women and adolescent girls are the most vulnerable group in Kenya and face unique barriers to fulfilling their potential due to a number of gender-based inequities. A lack of resources and status means girls do not have the means to afford further training and they may receive resistance from families wary of women’s ambition and independence, or reliant on their labour at home. Without access to training and empowerment, their opportunities of improving their living conditions and self-esteem, as well as their opportunities to generate an adequate income are greatly reduced.
The Mwangaza Project aims to address these issues and empower 800 vulnerable women with the tools they need to improve their income-generating capacity, confidence and sense of self and to break the cycle of poverty for them and their families. This will be achieved by targeting women living in poverty, one-to-one mentoring, formal skills development including business skills, industry-specific skills, financial skills, literacy and numeracy skills. The project will also benefit 80 local women mentors who will be empowered as agents of change.
WONDER Foundation is delivering this work through our existing partnership with the Kianda Foundation and its three schools, Tewa Training Centre, Kimlea Girls Technical Training Centre and Kibondeni College of Catering and Hospitality. WONDER’s role in this project will be to continue to develop Kianda’s capacity beyond their area of expertise: quality vocational training for vulnerable women and girls. Kianda Foundation will deliver the project on the ground, whilst improving its capacity for project monitoring and evaluation to make the projects scalable and sustainable.
Watch the Mwangaza Project launch on-demand below to hear from the women leading the project on the ground:
Project partners
Project impact
600 women will receive business training; 80% will set up their own business, 60% will double their family income within 6 months
200 women will receive an accredited qualification in catering and accommodation management; 82% will enter paid work, with options for the future; 80% will double their family income within 6 months
800 women will increase their confidence and sense of agency
800 women will improve their health and wellbeing
800 women will are readier to positively improve their children’s education and future life options
880 women will positively create change in their communities and beyond, as a project legacy
