In Kenya, an Anthology – and the Right Donor Support – Sparks National-level Conversations on Disability Rights
Stories, when told authentically and sincerely, bring buzz to conversations and energy to tired plans. Through unrestricted funding, tailored support, and mentorship from WomenStrong, The Action Foundation was able to do just that through a new anthology — bring previously unheard stories to the fore and inspire changes regarding disability rights in Kenya.
Maria Omare wanted to release something perfect into the world — a polished anthology of stories on girls and women in Kenya with disabilities that fit the image she had in her head. Instead, Omare, the founder and executive director of The Action Foundation (TAF) in Kenya, worked past her self-proclaimed perfectionism to release something powerful into the world — thanks to an “accountability partner,” the donor WomenStrong International.
Reclaiming Power, the aforementioned anthology, was unveiled internationally at WomenStrong’s 10th anniversary celebration in Washington, D.C. on September 19, 2024. It went on to kindle local and national policy conversations on disability advocacy, highlighting both the plight and fortitude of those with disabilities. The book even inspired action from legal practitioners, including the creation of a specific legal aid desk by FIDA Kenya — the Federation of Women Lawyers — for persons with disabilities and their families.
WomenStrong was not TAF’s only donor, but it quickly became one of its most influential because of its more invested and empathetic approach to working with its grantees — partners, as WomenStrong affectionately calls them — combining flexible funding with hands-on, tailored support and mentorship, especially during the book’s four-year creation.
Telling Stories of Hope and Courage
The idea for Reclaiming Power came in 2020 from TAF’s desire to showcase the fierce courage and potential of girls and women with disabilities with whom TAF works, rather than their frailties and the obstacles they faced. “We had the idea to spotlight the stories of change that have occurred in the lives of the women and the girls that we’ve been privileged to work with,” explained Omare.
Indeed, Omare knows many such stories and shared a few when interviewed — like that of Shanu, who escaped early marriage and became her county’s top female student with a disability thanks to mentorship and life skills training. Or Theresa, who, despite years of ridicule for a medical condition, was able to stay in school and get high marks, and even go on to college, with TAF supplying colostomy bags to help her manage her condition, thus enabling her to stay in school. This type of specialized medical equipment, Omare noted, would have been “very difficult” to procure if not for WomenStrong’s flexible funds.
Partners on a Long Journey
For the anthology, and to bring such stories out of the shadows, TAF began by identifying girls and young women willing to share their experiences. Although the first version of the book was raw and imperfect, feedback from WomenStrong provided crucial direction for improvement in design, tone, structure, and ethical storytelling. Over time, a professional writer was brought in to re-interview participants and expand the collection with a renewed focus on authenticity and voice.
The process was intense, requiring repeat visits, careful storytelling, and multiple rounds of edits, and was even shelved at one point due to competing priorities. “And then finally — finally — because of the WomenStrong team, the book came up [again],” recalled Omare, “because they didn’t allow us to give up. They shared that these are stories that need to be told.”
Humble Beginnings Built on Strong Convictions
TAF’s own story reveals a remarkable evolution. Back in 2009, Omare was a young student studying nutrition at a local university in Kenya and saw a poster that volunteers were being sought for the Special Olympics. She signed up — an experience that changed the course of her life as she witnessed the challenges faced by children with complex disabilities and their families. The “magical experience” of parents seeing their children participate in activities they had never thought possible turned into a powerful motivator to serve those with disabilities.
Omare’s foray into grassroots activism quickly revealed that disability was inextricably bound up with other tough social problems, including educational systems that didn’t accommodate disabilities, gender-based violence, and lack of community support. This inspired her to establish the Foundation’s first “very small and vibrant center” with just $50. Today, TAF has grown into a nationally recognized organization serving over 40,000 children and youth with disabilities.
Redefining the Relationship Between Grantee and Grant-Giver
The anthology is just one example of the benefits of WomenStrong’s model of partnership, according to Omare. She noted that through WomenStrong’s peer-to-peer learning initiatives, TAF was able to gain valuable insight from organizations like Girl Up Initiative Uganda, another WomenStrong grantee (or “partner” in WomenStrong’s parlance), which they were able to apply to their own mentoring initiatives.
“WomenStrong has been an absolutely refreshing funder to work with,” remarked Omare. “We joined in 2019, and it’s really been years upon years of allowing us to grow, allowing us to build systems within our organization, and just allowing us to learn from each other as grantee partners, and giving us room and space to really be responsive to the needs of our community.”
The local and national-level success that WomenStrong enables through its unique approach is evident in the accomplishments of its other partners, including Project Jeune Leader (PJL) in Madagascar, which aims to make comprehensive sexuality education available to all adolescents there, especially in the rural areas. After years of advocacy and relationship-building, starting this school year, Madagascar’s Ministry of Education is now fully funding and leading the expansion of PJL’s sexuality education program to 1,747 public middle schools across 13 new regions — reaching nearly 400,000 students — or about 1 in 6 rural Malagasy adolescents.
In fact, a recently concluded outcome evaluation commissioned by WomenStrong and conducted by an independent firm found that 97 percent of participant organizations agreed that WomenStrong’s multidimensional, tailored support has been “vital” or “very helpful” in helping them achieve both internal and external change. “WomenStrong isn’t just your typical funder,” said Omare,
“They’re like the friend that you call when you are having challenges, but they’re also the friend that you call to celebrate with. So it’s [more] like having a big sister than a funder.”
Omare’s sentiment of camaraderie, kinship even, is echoed in the words of Maia Ramarosandratana, executive director of PJL in Madagascar, who, upon writing to WomenStrong to share the good news of their program’s nationwide expansion, noted, “Your belief in the work — and your patience — carried us through a long, complex process of scaling with and through government. You also invested in the behind-the-scenes organizational capacity that made this exponential growth possible. We’re proud to share this moment with you.”
While Omare describes WomenStrong as a rare funder, she believes this type of support doesn’t have to be so rare. “Every single organization can actually model what WomenStrong has been able to do so beautifully for so many years because it does allow these organizations to navigate around their own challenges in the way that works best for them and to be responsive to the needs of the program participants that they work with.” Omare believes this approach is not necessarily more difficult; it just “involves a lot of letting go of presets, expectations about what grantees should be doing to [allow] grantee partners to design their needs, but also to be able to design and be responsive to the needs of their communities,” she said, evincing the spirit of partnership envisioned in the WomenStrong model.
