Last year we piloted the Girl Rising program at Divine Mercy School, Kangemi, which was a success despite the myriad of challenges our team and students encountered during the pandemic. When schools opened this year, we were doubtful of our chances to implement the program due to the predetermined school calendar set by the Ministry of Education. The first term was short, which required schools to operate on a very tight schedule. Remarkably, our partner schools expressed enthusiasm in the Girl Rising program, and on 05th February 2021, we conducted our first session. Currently, we are working with six schools located in three communities: Kangemi, Kawangware, and Kibera. One of the schools that we are working with is called Tabasamu Watoto Inclusive Centre. It is a community-based organization dedicated to improving education and opportunities for the children from Kibera and currently runs as a preschool. The students we have in our sessions from Tabasamu Watoto Inclusive Centre are students from the Kibera community and not the school. We have four special needs students at Tabasamu. None of these learners has ever missed a session. Big Picture Learning is implementing the program as an extracurricular activity called the Girl Rising Club. This approach guarantees the sustainability of the program long after program implementation.
Our students find this curriculum exciting. The film story modules have activities that heighten learner participation in class. We have covered two out of the six-story modules so far and reached a total of 1,699 girls and 1,184 boys. The first story we covered was about a girl called Ruksana who lives in India. She highlighted issues of homelessness, slums, street children, poverty, and gender-based violence. Gender-based violence stood out in our class discussions among our current cohort. Students asked so many questions on the issue. They probed solutions, types of abuse, avenues to report gender-based violence cases, and safe houses available in the community. We also observed that some students were not aware of what gender-based violence is. To track learners’ understanding, we introduced session evaluations for each completed story. This has helped assess comprehension and identifying areas that would benefit our learners. The topics are around some of the challenges our students have experienced and consequently negatively affected their education. They include coping mechanisms and mental health, sexual and reproductive health, and emotional intelligence. As schools close, we will be facilitating sessions in three schools. The Big Picture team is working on expertly respond to the issues raised by learners. Big Picture aims to cover some of these areas during the professional development workshops during the April break. These sessions are scheduled to resume on 6th April 2021.
We are already observing a change of attitude in some of our students based on their reflections and how they respond to questions.
Rianna Mutanu (pictured above) is a class six student at Zeal Covenant who shared that ” I feel accepted, compared to separate programs I attended in the past, our mentorship grants students’ equal chances to share their thoughts. I am learning a lot in the program, for example, I didn’t know both girls and boys are equal and have equal rights.”
Grace Betty a student at Tabasamu opined, “I am learning a lot, particularly on gender issues. I didn’t know boys too are victims of GBV. Learning how education can transform my community has motivated me to excel in my studies. I am learning important values and qualities that I intend to practice henceforth. The issues of street children and homelessness were sad. I now understand that although I am young, my support and my input matter too. This program has helped me grow my self-esteem. I can stand up for myself. I now believe in myself more and, I understand situations better”
George Brian a student at Tabasamu opined, “These sessions are teaching me to be respectful and act responsibly. Most of the challenges in the films are like what we experience here in Kibera. Our teacher taught us to constantly identify solutions to the difficulties we experience and not stay silent on issues. Before our sessions, I didn’t know child labor and Gender-Based Violence is wrong because in my community it is not deemed a problem.”
We look forward to seeing all learners develop an effective gender-responsive attitude!