- Gender and Social Services county directorEsther Ingolo said in many cases, girls have opportunities but they do not know what to do.
- Ingolo said, as a department, they are working towards ensuring that girls are exposed to the right working environment.
Image: AURA RUTH:
During the lockdown after Covid-19 struck, Mombasa was among regions which recorded high numbers of early pregnancy cases among young girls.
Early pregnancy tops list of challenges affecting girls in the region.
Speaking during the International Day of the Girl Child, Gender and Social Services county director Esther Ingolo said in many cases, girls have the opportunities but they do not know what to do.
Ingolo said, as a department, they are working towards ensuring that girls are exposed to the right working environment.
Despite the fact that the government is working towards ensuring that there are women representatives in the corporate positions, Ingolo said girls' rights have been breached.
“Many girls have been denied rights to education and to make decisions on their own. Most of them are not informed about their rights, something which calls for more awareness to be done in the community,” she said.
Ingolo said the department has a programme where there are selected girls who help them in reaching out to others in the community to engage them and help in highlighting issues affecting them.
“We have girls working as our representatives in the community, especially in Junda area where early pregnancy cases have been on the rise,” she said.
“We also have supporting leaders who are adolescents who help us to easily respond and act by ensuring their voices are heard and they are included in decision making."
However, Ingolo said there are policies and developing plans which are being formulated to protect girls and ensure they know their rights in the society.
“There is the Mombasa mainstreaming gender policy on children in the assembly, this policy is expected to help in protecting the girls against any form of violence, help them understand what they need and ensure that they are not left behind in decision making,” she said.
The department also formulated Sexual Gender-Based Violence policy, which according to Ingolo, would protect girls and give them, as a department, a road map on interventions to ensure that they work under policy.
She said they are working towards reviewing disability mainstreaming policy, especially for girls, on matters touching on reproductive health and education.
This would not only help in protecting the girls but also help in increasing funds allocated to address issues of disability.
In line with policies, the department wants to invest in girls by increasing the budget.
For the last 10 years, she said there has been an increment of budget to handle gender issues, and it is through the increment that the county started a programme of providing girls with a package of sanitary towels to end the period of poverty.
There are also girl-centred services at Tononoka situation room where free services, including mental health and control of their mental health are offered to girls.
In health facilities, the county has worked to ensure there are friendly centres in the public hospitals where girls can visit and access the services without fear.
The department is also developing a women economic plan which will help them to identify where there are gaps on handling issues touching not only on women but also girls.
“Girls do not have information touching on their rights but we are doing talks in the community to empower them and ensure they know and understand their rights," Ingolo said.
“We also have a post-care project where we have mothers adopting girls in the community, they meet them every Saturday to ask them how the week has been and, through this, we believe we will be able to address issues affecting the girls and reduce the pregnancy cases,” she said.
Mary Mwachite, founder and executive director of Nawiri organisation, said that there is a need for a collective effort to help the community in understanding the importance of education and rights of girls.
She said culture has contributed to the challenges facing girls because there is still a high level of illiteracy in the community.
“We need to have decent initiatives where we create awareness to girls on their rights. As an organisation we are working towards doing sensitisation in schools to inform the girls on their rights,” Mwachite said.
(edited by Amol Awuor)