Implementing Multiple Gender Strategies to Improve HIV and ... - ICRW

ENGENDERING EQUALITY
LEAD ORGANIZATIONS:
COUNTRY:
HIV PROGRAM AREA:
Kenya AIDS Intervention Prevention Project Group
(KAIPPG)
Kenya
Prevention, Care and Support
OVERVIEW:
The Engendering Equality project seeks to improve the status of rural women, children and youth by
increasing their access to information about the links among HIV, AIDS, and general health;
agriculture and nutrition; gender inequality; and poverty. The project encourages change through
activism, giving community members tools to articulate and advocate for their needs. For instance, it
holds open forums where vulnerable women and girls advocate against ideologies and practices that
enhance the spread of HIV, and it helps women access information on health, agriculture and
property/inheritance laws to improve their understanding of and ability to advocate for their rights in
these realms. The project also establishes food gardens in homes of HIV and AIDS-affected
households to help these families eat better and to provide income-generating opportunities. Finally,
the project has established Nutritional Field Schools to teach basic farming, nutrition and care-giving
skills. Evaluations show a broad range of success, from improved knowledge about nutrition, HIV
prevention and care-giving, to increased support among men for gender equity, to women’s improved
abilities to engage in national debates on issues of importance to them. The project has learned the
importance of involving men, who otherwise may resist women’s participation, and of involving the
community at all stages of the project.
BACKGROUND
HIV & AIDS
Program Goals
KAIPPG’s mission is to combat the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS,
improve rural livelihoods and promote sustainable, grassroots-based
development. It focuses its work on improving the status of women,
children and youth living in rural areas through increased access to
information about the links among HIV, AIDS, and general health;
agriculture and nutrition; gender inequality; and poverty. It fosters an
approach of self-empowering activism, which helps ensure that projects
address community needs.
Gender Strategies
Addressed
Reducing violence and coercion
Addressing male norms and behaviors
Increasing women’s legal protection
Increasing women’s access to income and productive resources
Other: gender equity
Description of
Intervention
The Engendering Equality project addresses the information needs of
women and girls because access to knowledge and information helps
women advocate for their needs and express their views on issues of
concern to them, their families, and their communities. The project
improves women’s access to information on health, agriculture, women’s
rights, nutrition and HIV and AIDS. To address women’s legal protection,
it also provides women with access to information on property inheritance.
The project collects resources, selects and prioritizes the most appropriate
information for each group’s needs, translates it into appropriate languages
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