The European Union Delegation to the Republic of Kenya, Oxfam and partners, [National Organization of Peer Educators (NOPE) and SITE Enterprise Promotion)] will launch the Wezesha Jamii project funded by European Union on 12th May 2015 in Kinyanjui Primary School, Kawangware at 2.00pm. The chief guest will be Nairobi County Trade and Industrialization, Cooperative Development and Tourism County Executive Committee Member. The event will be attended by; women domestic workers and women small scale traders from the low income settlements, trade unions and federations of target women, government officials, implementing partners and Dr. Hjordis Ogendo, Head of Social and Environment Section at the EU Delegation to the Republic of Kenya.
The European Union is financing Oxfam to the tune of 2,332,711 Euros (approximately Kenya Shillings 247,617,272) to implement a project entitled: Promoting livelihoods and Inclusion of vulnerable women domestic workers and women small scale traders, hereafter dubbed the "Wezesha Jamii". The project is aimed at enhancing social economic empowerment of poor women dependent on the informal economy in Nairobi. With co-financing, the 4-year project is worth 3,250,655 Euros (approximately 345,057,028 Kenya Shillings) and will be implemented by Oxfam in partnership with National Organization of Peer Educators (NOPE) and SITE Enterprise Promotion. The project will directly benefit 30,000 poor and vulnerable women domestic workers and small scale traders living in Mukuru, Kibera, Kawangware and Korogocho. The project will indirectly benefit an additional 1.38 million people who are employed in the informal economy.
This project will work with diverse stakeholders both State (e.g. Nairobi County government, Kenya Industrial Research and Development Institute, National Health Insurance Fund, Retirement Benefits Authority, National Social Security Fund, and Women Enterprise Fund) and Non-State Actors (International Labor Organisation, Kenya Union of Domestic Workers Hotel Education Institutions and Allied Workers, the Federation of Women Lawyers, and Kituo cha Sheria) and will achieve four key results namely (1) Increased livelihood opportunities and social support options of women target groups (2) Greater equity and resilience of women target groups (3) Women target groups empowered about their rights and having a collective voice and (4) Government and other stakeholders well informed and delivering their responsibilities with increased efficiency.
Oxfam’s vision is a just world without poverty: a world in which people can influence decisions that affect their lives, enjoy their rights and assume their responsibilities as full citizens of a world in which all human beings are valued and treated equally. In Kenya, Oxfam envisions a transformed Kenyan Society that challenges poverty and inequality. Oxfam’s programme in Kenya focuses on four goals: 1) Civil society maximizes civil society space and ensures more equitable raising and spending of financial resources at county and national level; 2) Poor and marginalized communities get a fair share of natural resources and their benefits; 3) Women will gain power over their lives to participate in, and contribute to, public life; 4) The severity of future humanitarian crises on communities in Kenya is reduced.
For further information kindly contact
Joyce Kabue – Communication and Information Advisor, email: JKabue@oxfam.org.uk; mobile: +254 725 690 506
We extend a special invitation to you to cover the project over the next 3.5 years especially to highlight its progress towards realizing of the goal and results. The project team (above) commits and will be willing to give you access to the project activities and beneficiaries as you monitor the project progress through different stories of change and news features. If you wish to receive updates on the project, kindly send us an email to add you to our project mailing list.