Across Kenya, women grow food, care for families, and hold communities together, yet often remain excluded from resources and decision-making. Leonida Odongo explains why funding women-led initiatives is essential for justice, food security, and lasting change.“When women-led initiatives are funded, communities benefit profoundly.”In Kenya, across Africa, and globally, women form the backbone of the agricultural workforce. They are the majority of those who produce food. However, when it comes to benefiting from their sweat, they are often excluded. Women are usually the last to go to bed and the first to wake up, carrying responsibilities across the fields and at home.In Elgeiyo Marakwet, the Indigenous Peoples of Sengwer keep a lot of merino sheep. When you ask the women who own the sheep, the response is "ni Mzee"—meaning the husband. Who controls the chicken? Women. But when the value increases to Kshs 30,000, ownership changes from women to men.Within agricultural workforces, women are often employed as farm laborers. In areas where synthetic fertilizers are heavily used, they are exposed to serious health risks due to inhalation of toxic chemicals, often without proper protective gear. Beyond this, women carry out double work across both productive and reproductive spheres, returning home after long hours in the fields to perform unpaid domestic work.When it comes to productive resources such as land, women are often relegated to the periphery. Most African countries are patriarchal, and title deeds are thus often in the names of male family members. As a result, women do not own property and, in some cases, get violently evicted from their matrimonial homes when their husbands die. It is often assumed that a woman will marry, hence no point in bequeathing her property. This happens despite legislation that speaks to gender equality, as in Kenya.Cultural practices further compound these injustices. In communities that practice wife inheritance, women are subjected to the practice against their will. Those who refuse are ostracized and, in some cases, evicted from their communities. Forced out of their matrimonial homes, these women must rebuild their lives for the sake of their children.Women also bear the heaviest burdens during climate crises. During droughts, floods, or landslides, it is women who plan for evacuation, ensure families are fed and clothed, and carry the mental weight of uncertainty about what tomorrow may bring. When flash floods ravaged Nairobi, women were at the forefront of rebuilding homes and restoring a sense of normalcy. During prolonged drought, women and girls travel longer distances in search of water, often at increased risk. Upon returning from long queues at water points, they may even face violence, accused of infidelity.In situations of conflict and protracted crisis, women are often the most affected. They are vulnerable to sexual violence during periods of war, while also bearing responsibility for ensuring family safety and access to food. Even in temporary shelters, women take on both physical and psychological caregiving roles. In families living in Internally Displaced Persons camps, it is often women who are expected to reassure others that all will be well and that tomorrow will be better, whether displacement is caused by banditry or other forms of conflict.Women also carry an invisible mental health burden within their communities. During the onset of COVID-19, anxiety and uncertainty intensified, while reports of abuse against women increased during lockdowns. Within communities, women frequently provide informal psychosocial support as community health workers. During disease outbreaks, it is women who nurture families and communities back to health.In the education sector, girls are often disadvantaged compared to boys. They are more likely to be withdrawn from school to supplement household incomes. When girls become pregnant, they are forced to leave school, while the male responsible continues with his education. This entrenches intergenerational poverty, denying girls the opportunity to improve their futures through education.Many young people in Kenya and across Africa are languishing in poverty due to unemployment. Funding initiatives that work directly with young people, such as Haki Nawiri Afrika’s Youth Engagement Pillar, could strengthen their skills while building the confidence young people need to navigate life’s challenges.Yet when seeking employment, young people are repeatedly asked to show experience.Where does one get the experience when opportunities are lacking?Haki Nawiri Afrika's Youth Engagement Pillar provides mentorship to young people and creates opportunities for networking, confidence building, and participation in policy processes. However, inadequate funding forces many promising initiatives to end prematurely, limiting continued community engagement and leaving millions of young people without access to mentorship.Learning from past successes of the Youth Engagement initiative—which included conducting paralegal training for youth, human rights education, and provision of psychosocial support as well as mentorship—more young people are seeking such opportunities, but financial constraints make it difficult to respond to these needs.When women-led initiatives are funded, communities benefit profoundly.Supporting women-led initiatives can be both financial and non-financial. Due to limited learning opportunities, many women running grassroots organisations lack the requisite knowledge and skills in project management, fundraising, resource mobilisation, and advocacy. Providing institutional support will contribute greatly to advancing such organisations. At the same time, mentorship for women-led organisations further enhances the realisation of organisational missions and visions.For example, when writing proposals, regardless of whether one has direct experience with projects, applicants strictly adhere to specific proposal requirements. What happens to a rural woman who runs a local community-based organisation and has no idea what a log-frame, objectively verifiable indicators, or word count requirements mean, yet is actively championing community rights and transforming communities? What about funding requirements that proposals must be written in English or French, when this same woman, who also serves as a community leader to over 500 women, cannot speak English or French, let alone speak Kiswahili, the national language of Kenya?Institutional support to grassroots organisations would further enhance capacity within these organisations and provide basic equipment needed for day-to-day operations, such as computers and printers. Many grassroots organisations operate without such basic equipment, yet they are expected to compete for the same funding as large networks that already have the necessary resources.In order to survive in challenging financial times, Haki Nawiri Afrika is in the process of setting up a Friends of Haki Nawiri Initiative, where individuals can donate any amount to a cause of their preference. For example, those interested in supporting women can contribute to the organisation’s Gender Justice Pillar. Support for youth activities can be channelled to the Youth Engagement Pillar, while individuals or institutions interested in climate issues can support the Food Justice and Gender Justice pillars.Additionally, working with volunteers helps organisations continue engaging communities during difficult financial periods. However, volunteers also have financial needs that must be met. When resources are constrained, teams of partners coming together to carry out community activities make a positive contribution. Sharing skills, supporting one another, and remaining present in community work go a long way in strengthening trust and consistency.It is important to fund women-led grassroots initiatives so they can continue creating the change envisioned in our communities and sustain these efforts over time.STORY AWARDSThis story was awarded as part of the #FundHerNow call for stories and a research project led by World Pulse’s Research and Evaluation Group (REG). They are supported in this effort by Jasmine R. Linabary, Ph.D. (University of Arizona), Meghana Rawat, Ph.D. (Utah Valley University), and Danielle Corple, Ph.D. (Wheaton College).

Leonida OdongoKenya