NOTES FROM THE FIELD - IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON WOMEN & GIRLS
Greetings from Nairobi!
This month our partners met virtually to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on women and girls in East Africa. The bad news is that COVID-19 has worsened pre-existing inequalities.
With schools closed, children, and particularly girls, have lost a huge safety net and access to basic nutrition (school meals) and hygiene needs (menstrual supplies that schools provided). The number of gender-based violence cases has increased, and more incidents of female genital mutilation (FGM), child marriages, and teen pregnancies have been reported.
Families and girls are making decisions based on limited resources, examples include fish for sex, home births for fear of catching COVID-19, and child marriage in exchange for food, labor, and/or security and family honor.
In Kenya, COVID-19 threatens to derail the nation's commitment, by Presidential Directive, to end FGM by 2022. It also means girls are living in fear of FGM, which is always more prevalent during holidays, or extended downtime, like what's happening with COVID shutdowns.
Read below to find out what some of our partners are doing to better serve women and girls in a COVID-19 environment.
I hope you are all staying safe and healthy.
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Aurelia Micko
Environment Office Chief
USAID Kenya and East Africa
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IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON WOMEN AND GIRLS |
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Excerpt from "what can we do":
As gender-based violence is pervasive, assume it is happening, be aware and understand the linkages between gender-based violence and environment. The first step is to understand these linkages in order to better identify risks and measures to prevent gender-based violence during the development and implementation of regular work such as conservation projects (and, indeed, in daily life). Understanding what the root causes are will help define preventive and responsive measures.
More on the effect of COVID-19 on women and girls in Africa:
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Gender-based violence and environment linkages during...
Gender-based violence is pervasive around the world, in all societies, contexts and sectors. The socio-economic stresses of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on movement have significantly increased gender-based violence risks, particularly...
Read more
genderandenvironment.org
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GETTING GIRLS BACK TO SCHOOL |
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In the Maasai Mara, some schools are reporting that only 50% of girls are returning to class following COVID shutdown. They are dropping out because of pregnancies, female genital mutilation or lack of resources.
The USAID-supported Maasai Mara Wildlife Conservancies Association (MMWCA) is working to get girls back in school by addressing the stigma and discrimination that may keep girls from returning to school following child birth. Over 70 percent of Maasai girls have been pregnant or have had a child before the age of 18. This situation has worsened since school closures due to COVID. Young mothers need to be encouraged and enabled to return to school, which means access to child care, baby supplies, and supportive school environments. It also means building the capacity of teachers to fight stigma and discrimination, which MMWCA is actively pursuing.
MMWCA supports women's forums, livelihood projects, and vocational training to help women gain a voice in their community and economic security. They are also encouraging their community conservancies to incorporate a gender perspective in all responses to COVID-19 and to apply affirmative action to the distribution of school bursaries to disadvantaged girls.
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WATCH to learn more about MMWCA and contact them to learn about some of their programs to combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the conservancies they serve, including:
- Water and sanitation services
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AN UPSURGE IN FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION |
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Samburu County in northern central Kenya reported more than 500 cases of FGM between April and June 2020. There was also an upsurge of child marriage and teenage pregnancies across the county.
Samburu Girls Foundation is a Kenyan non-profit organization that rescues girls from child-marriage, sexual exploitation (referred to here as child beading) and FGM. USAID supports them and you can too.
COVID-19 restrictions forced the Samburu Girls Foundation to close its safe house during the pandemic. Staff directed all FGM cases to government authorities for intervention and now must work to be recognized as an "essential service" to stay open. The Foundation also needs more resources to meet the health regulations required to keep their girls and staff safe from COVID-19.
Their way forward is to seek more funding to fulfill their mission, which includes prioritizing girls education in pastoralist communities and fast tracking the integration of Foundation girls back to their communities to become agents of change.
Find out more about Samburu Girls Foundation by clicking to the right. Look below for a list of gender-based violence hotlines in Kenya.
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Samburu Girls Foundation
Child beading (aisho-ntoyie saen) is a major cultural practice found in the Samburu community. Samburu morans, young warriors aged 15-35 years, are not allowed to marry. Hence girls as young as 9 years old are assigned to male relatives by use of ...
Read more
samburugirls.foundation
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In The Power of Parity: Advancing Women's Equality in Africa the authors suggest that persistent gender inequality is limiting Africa's potential.
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If Africa steps up its efforts now to close gender gaps, it can secure a substantial growth dividend in the process. Accelerating progress toward parity could boost African economies by the equivalent of 10 percent of their collective GDP by 2025. |
- McKinsey Global Institute |
Find out more about USAID's support for closing gender gaps by clicking here.
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The power of parity: Advancing women’s equality in Africa
Africa is home to some of the world's fastest growing economies and offers an exciting frontier for businesses looking for growth and new markets. And yet, persistent gender inequality is limiting its potential.
Read more
www.mckinsey.com
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UPDATED WILDLIFE PROTECTION TOOLKIT |
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This month, the counter-trafficking organization Freeland released an updated and expanded version of its global “Wildlife Protection Toolkit.”
The toolkit supports the needs of governments and civil society organizations in the following areas:
• Counter-Poaching
• Counter-Trafficking
• Species Identification
• Legal Analysis and Reform
• Community Engagement
• Behavior Change/Demand Reduction
• National and Regional Task Forces
The toolkit is available in several languages and was supported by the ASEAN Center for Biodiversity, USAID, US State Department Bureau of INL, US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Blue Moon Fund. Click to the right to learn more.
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Wildlife Protection Toolkit
The WildScan smartphone app enables everyone to identify commonly trafficked wildlife and wildlife parts. Originally designed for frontline law enforcement officers and transport sector workers to correctly identify, report and handle commonly...
Read more
wildlifeprotectiontools.net
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USAID and partners invite you to attend the upcoming webinar, Zoonotics and Pandemics on November 24. Email Lilly Bekele-Piper lpiper@usaid.gov for registration information.
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ENVIRONMENT NEWS AND OPINION ROUNDUP
(Articles and headlines are taken directly from the sources cited)
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Did you know that despite looking like dogs, hyenas are not members of the dog or cat families? Discover which family they belong to! Source: Wildlife Warriors newsletter. Read more.
Anti-Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) crusaders in the country are now pushing to have Anti-FGM lessons introduced in Grade One and Two in the school curriculum.
This strategy they say, will educate the young girls to say 'No' to the outlawed cultural practice being conducted against them. Source: The Nation. Read more.
Kenya is ranked the best girl-friendly country in the region, according to a new report.
And it’s ranked the 17th most girl-friendly country in Africa, but much ahead of Burundi (31), Tanzania (32), Uganda (34) and Sudan (42). Source: The Nation. Read more.
NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 12 – The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has collared five critically endangered hirola antelope at the Ishaqbini Hirola Sanctuary in Garissa County in a partnership with the Northern Rangelands Trust (NRT).
The collaring of the endangered antelope species followed a four-day campaign at the community-run conservancy whose hirola population has increased by 160 per cent since its establishment in 2012.
Increasing temperatures and sea levels, changing precipitation patterns and more extreme weather are threatening human health and safety, food and water security and socio-economic development in Africa, according to a new report devoted exclusively to the continent.
The State of the Climate in Africa 2019 report, a multi-agency publication coordinated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), provides a snapshot of current and future climate trends and associated impacts on the economy and sensitive sectors like agriculture. It highlights lessons for climate action in Africa and identifies pathways for addressing critical gaps and challenges. Source: All Africa. Read more.
Local communities are working to reverse the fate of critically endangered black rhinos, which now roam free in northern Kenya's Lewa Conservancy. Source: DW.com. Read more.
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USAID Kenya and East Africa Environment | www.usaid.gov/east-africa-regional/environment |
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