Various forms of Gender-Based Violence, including domestic violence, sexual violence, and child marriage, are widespread in Kenya. According to the 2022 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, approximately 43 % of women aged 15 and over have experienced domestic or intimate partner violence. In addition, like Orinye Village, there are many areas where traditional customs and cultures based on patriarchy are deeply rooted, and there are many cases where women are excluded from decision-making processes in society and the home and have limited opportunities for education and employment based on strict gender role definitions.

When housework takes too long, women face violence from their family or partners. They also face sexual violence on their way home from the market late at night, or on their way to gather firewood or water. And the lack of lighting in the home makes it even more difficult for women to effectively carry out household chores and economic activities, and they lose opportunities for independence. Women's economic dependence on men can also be seen as a factor that encourages abusive relationships.

In this situation, JICA is working to create " smart villages without GBV." For example, we support women to increase their "initiative " to deal with GBV through adult literacy programs, income-generating activities, and creating spaces to share knowledge about self-awareness and happiness. At the same time, we also carry out activities involving men, and we are working to change perceptions by explaining to both men and women why GBV is wrong.

* Self-awareness and well-being: The concept that it is important to understand oneself and be aware of one's condition and mental and physical health.

Makiko Kubota, who is promoting this project at JICA, said:

"Even though women are subjected to violence and must be suffering, they couldn't even utter the words 'help me.' Men also couldn't understand why violence was wrong. That was their common sense. In order to change this mindset, we first steadily conveyed to women that 'GBV is a problem for the entire community and society,' and that 'it is not shameful to ask for help.' Thanks to this, women are now able to tell men that 'that is violence.' Women are also now able to talk about GBV together."

One of the major initiatives of this project is the Adult Literacy Program.

"When we started the project, we had thorough discussions with the women in the village about what actions and initiatives were needed to eliminate GBV and enable women to live with dignity as human beings. The women then said, 'We want to learn to read and write!' This was the impetus for the launch of the Adult Literacy Program," says Kubota.

This program is being implemented by JICA with the support of the Kajiado County Government. The Kajiado County Government secured teachers, and JICA assisted in the purchase of textbooks, and the Adult Literacy Program was launched. Currently, about 50 women are studying every day.

This project is working to strengthen women's networks and solidarity to eliminate GBV. In recent years, it has been felt that connections between people have become weaker in various regions of Japan, but Kubota says that in Orinye village, too, residents rarely cooperated with each other to achieve the same goals. The residents of Orinye village are the Maasai people, and they are originally nomadic people, which may be the reason behind this.

JICA brought these women together and supported the creation of a women's network. They talked about their plight and sympathized with each other. This alone brought about a big change for the women and led them to move forward. These women, who had never told anyone around them that they had been subjected to violence, gained a great deal of emotional support.

Currently, the network is also engaged in 'savings activities,' working together to save money to support Ms. A's child's education this year and Ms. B's child's education next year, building a system of mutual cooperation. In addition, various initiatives aimed at improving livelihoods are expanding, such as women starting to grow vegetables together.

Initiative to create smart villages free of GBV. For example, in the "Adult Literacy Program," women attend literacy classes during the day while busy with housework, taking care of livestock, and other tasks, but this does not provide enough time to study. However, with the lanterns, they can spread out their notebooks and study at home at night.

A woman who runs a store used to close her shop before dark and go home, but now, thanks to the lights, she is happy that "I can stay open into the night and increase my income."

Women who have to go to fetch water at night can now be assured of their safety. Also, women who were subjected to violence by their husbands for not finishing their housework at the appointed time due to the lack of lighting will now have more free time.

It is expected that the solar lanterns will accelerate the empowerment of women in the village and strengthen efforts to eliminate GBV.

A woman with five children says:

Until now, my husband's violence was a daily occurrence, but thanks to the training he received from JICA and the provincial government, he now understands that his behavior was wrong. Our family is poor, and we sometimes struggle to feed our children, but the solar lanterns have allowed us to increase our bead weaving work at night, and now our children will have enough time to study, which makes me very happy.

On the day of the solar lantern donation, the women expressed their joy through song.

A woman says:

"Holding the solar lanterns in our hands, we were able to feel that we were worthy of " something ". It made us feel like we had reached a new stage in life."

They feel like they have become "someone worth something."

We were deeply moved by these words. Behind the bright smiles they showed at the donation ceremony, these women had lived in harsh environments in the past. Violence was commonplace in their daily lives, and they were subject to traditional customs and culture based on patriarchy, as well as strict gender role definitions. Until now, they had not even had the opportunity to make decisions about their own lives, and had lived their lives believing that they were worthless. By highlighting the existence of these women and supporting their empowerment through the donation of solar lanterns, the women's words "made them feel like they were worthy of 'something' - valuable person" really struck me.

We hope that this small light will make a significant contribution to the empowerment of women.

Once again express our gratitude to our collaborative partner JICA, as well as the Kenyan government and the county government, for accepting us , and we will continue to work to ensure that solar lanterns continue to illuminate a bright future full of possibilities.