Human rights and sustainable development

Namirama | Kenya

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Namirama works closely together with local populations and regional authorities in remote rural areas. In addition to offering courses on sustainable farming and livestock farming to strengthen women economically, Namirama also organizes workshops on women’s and human rights.

 

Managed by women, the civil society or­­gan­ization Namirama is active in remote rural areas that are dominated by patri­archal structures in Kenya. Gender-specific violence, a lack of access to resources and factual exclusion from land ownership severely restrict women’s opportunities. Namirama’s program’s main focus is on im­proving women’s economic situation and increasing their independence. This is based on the conviction that it is only by achieving their independence that these women can strengthen their position in society sufficiently to be able to bring about a societal change.

With its projects, Namirama strongly emphasizes grass-roots work. Firstly, the women’s ideas and hopes are collected and their feasibility is examined by external experts. In the last two years, the main focus was on fish and poultry farming, as well as on sustainable farming practices. The appropriate training programs were developed and implemented in coope­ration with external experts.
Additional courses in business management, accounting, and establishing and managing cooperatives helps women to become leaders in their communities, which in turn strengthens their position in society. In parallel with economic em­powerment, Namirama organizes workshops on  land rights, as well as on human and women’s rights. During the last two years, 90 women have attended these workshops. This proves that the courses meet an actual need. By the end of 2025, five more women have already registered for the new year’s trainings. Their newly acquired knowledge and stronger position in society enables the women to con­tribute jointly to promoting social change.

 

Namirama’s holistic approach including both economic empowerment and education on human and women’s rights has convinced focus women, which is why the Board has approved an extension of the program until 2027.