Empowerment
A section of women and youth in church within West Pokot County have beaten community odds by driving change and building resilience against challenges facing society. They are offering assistance to groups who have shown signs of progress through various initiatives such as provision of resources urgently needed by community members.
Siyoi Ward residents in West Pokot Sub County have benefited from two water tanks to enable them quench their thirst and get water for domestic use since they have been suffering through walking long distances in search for the commodity. The new water tanks at the Talau Trading Center were put up courtesy of local women under Pokot Women Empowerment Organization (POWEO) and youth supported by Truth Connect Agency from the United States.
Despite women and youth being victims of disasters and calamities, many have for a long time been sidelined and discriminated against in humanitarian response. Bishop Richard Mutua of the Rock Church Africa, who was rescued beating all odds to become a Bishop, says they set up the water tanks to cushion residents against water shortage in the area.
He said they are equipped to respond and be resilient to emergencies and give residents access to water and help street urchins. Bishop Mutua who has worked tirelessly to give back to the community says that they work in remote, less accessible areas through drilling boreholes for water accessibility.
“Service to the community is service to God. We have been assisting 150 orphans and vulnerable children,” he stated. Bishop Mutua acknowledged that youths are resourceful, resilient and creative agents of change that should participate in the needs, assessment, coordination and implementation of humanitarian programmes.
“We have children’s homes in Kitale, Makutano and Talau. Many children have been suffering because they have no parents, get lost and die. We stay with them till we reunite them with their families,” he said. POWEO Executive Director Leah Chebitwey disclosed that they started the initiative in 2013 and they have supported 48 groups in West Pokot County.
“We celebrate the work of Strengthening Livelihoods and Resilience (SLR) funded by Center for Disaster Philanthropy (CDP) through Asal Humanitarian Network (AHN) for giving us Sh20 million this year. The community has their challenges and solutions lies amongst them,” she explained.
She urged politicians to embrace women and youth initiatives to help marginalized people get roads, water and toilets noting that residents of Talau, Kaibos and Kaprech have numerous challenges. Ms Chebitwey further called on stakeholders, donors, county and national governments to prioritize local women and grass root organizations in humanitarian response.
Water tanks installed at Talau Trading centre. Photo by Richard Muhambe
She argued that it is essential that humanitarian actors acknowledge women’s and girls’ roles as first responders and agents of change, as well as the best representatives of their needs in humanitarian crises. “We believe that strengthening local leadership in humanitarian responses, especially by women, is key to the effectiveness of such responses. This will help reduce the male chauvinism and gender biased international humanitarian system we currently have, and make responses to humanitarian crises more effective and gender transformative,” she reiterated.
She called for allocation of enough resources to address priorities that help the burden of women during disasters. “There is a need for women local CBOs and NGOs capacity building and empowerment. Disasters strike unexpectedly,” she held. Dr Don Schreier, the President for Truth Connect Agency disclosed that they travelled thousands of kilometres to celebrate with Talau residents who are now accessing clean water.
He stated that they have offered leadership training to 406 trainees, a move that encourages and equips leaders in the church and the community.”We help pastors around the World and want to have pastors in the world and help for homeless children,” he added.
He states that they offer facilities to set up children homes to offer care for children. “We provide facilities for homeless children to have a home. We love people by serving them,” he said. Area residents of Kaibos testified that they suffered due to water shortage and the initiatives being made are a big welcome to the community.
“We are now getting sufficient water. We want other organisations and the County Government to come on board since schools within the Talau area have no free flowing water. We get water from the intake through pipes pumped by solar motors,” Agnes Chepkorir.
