How Women in Kenya Mobilized for Peace After Surviving Violence

How Women in Kenya Mobilized for Peace After Surviving Violence

Women are rarely represented adequately at peace negotiations yet they make up half the population of any country in conflict or at war. This remains the case despite increasing global policy awareness on how women are affected by conflict and the importance of including them in peace and security processes. For instance, the UN’s landmark framework on women, peace and security reaffirms the important role women play in the prevention and resolution of conflicts.

Women’s contributions are also underscored in African peace instruments like the Maputo Protocol and Kenya’s National Action Plan.

But how do women in conflict actually engage in peacebuilding? There is considerable academic literature on the links between gender and peace but the lived experiences of women peace builders are not well captured.

Kenya's US Anti-Poaching Expert Faye Cuevas Announces 'Team Lioness', 8 Young Maasai Women Rangers + Plans For Many More

Kenya's US Anti-Poaching Expert Faye Cuevas Announces 'Team Lioness', 8 Young Maasai Women Rangers + Plans For Many More

Team Lioness, a team of eight young Maasai women is one of Kenya’s first all-female ranger units — and the direct result of Faye’s consultations with the Masaii women leaders. Officially announced on March 6, 2019, Team Lioness joins the Olgulului Community Wildlife Rangers (OCWR) who protect wildlife across six bases and one mobile unit in OOGR through IFAW’s tenBoma, an innovative wildlife security initiative. Team Lioness is operating in this precious natural corridor created by Kenya and Tanzania under the majesty of Kilimanjaro.

“In the larger Amboseli region, out of almost 300 wildlife rangers, to my knowledge there was only one woman,” Faye explained, in introducing Team Lioness. “The need was apparent.”

 The women of team Lioness were selected based on their academic achievements and physical strength, as well as their demonstration of trustworthiness, discipline, and integrity. Typically, a Maasai girl leaves school around age 10 and have few opportunities to achieve a higher education.

“It’s very rare that Maasai women achieve a secondary education,” says Cuevas. “But all of team Lioness have the equivalent of a US high school education, and none of them have had a paying job before this. It’s breaking barriers.”

“As the first women joining the OCWR Rangers, each of the team Lioness recruits brings a new perspective and a different experience with wildlife than her male counterparts,” Faye continues. “They are important voices in protecting wildlife and reconnecting communities to the benefits of sharing land with the magnificent big cats and other wildlife that call OOGR home.”

Lupita Nyong'o Narrates Award-Winning 'My Africa' Virtual Reality Film For Elephant Conservation

Lupita Nyong'o Narrates Award-Winning 'My Africa' Virtual Reality Film For Elephant Conservation

A virtual reality film ‘My Africa’, narrated by Oscar-winning film star Lupita Nyong’o and supported by The Tiffany & Co. Foundation, is among the winners of the annual Jackson Hole Science Media Awards.

The nine-minute film won top honors in the Virtual Reality/360° Storytelling category for “effectively using 360 technology and resources to advance an appreciation or understanding of a scientific discipline, discovery or principle.”

The film which was commissioned by Global environmental organization Conservation International which supports community-led wildlife conservation in Northern Kenya —is available in 7 languages including English, French, Mandarin, Portuguese, Samburu, Spanish and Swahili.

Directed by David Allen, the project was captured with virtual reality cameras in the Namunyak Wildlife Conservancy in Samburu County of northern Kenya at the Reteti Elephant Sanctuary, the first elephant orphanage in Africa owned and operated by the local community. In a region where conservation has traditionally been pursued by outsiders, Reteti — and the surrounding conservancy organization, Northern Rangelands Trust — offer a model grounded in local leadership and traditional knowledge, explains Creative Planet Network.

LOEWE Works With Kenya's Samburu Women On Elephant Bag For The Elephant Crisis Fund

LOEWE Works With Kenya's Samburu Women On Elephant Bag For The Elephant Crisis Fund

LOEWE and Knot On My Planet joins forces today to launch a limited edition collection of their iconic Elephant Mini Bag in tan, in support of the Elephant Crisis Fund (ECF)—a joint initiative between Save The Elephants (STE) and WCN, in partnership with the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

Knot On My Planet is closely associated with supermodel Doutzen Kroes, who hasbecome one of the loudest voices in elephant conservation, whose mission is to put an end to the ivory crisis and elephant extinction. When Kroes first visited Samburu, Kenya, and interacted with the elephant population there, she said she knew she needed to take action in the form of a long-term commitment to protecting severely-threatened elephants in Africa.  

Halima Aden Returns To Kakuma Refugee Camp In Kenya, Films TEDX Talk, Becomes UNICEF Ambassador

Halima Aden Returns To Kakuma Refugee Camp In Kenya, Films TEDX Talk, Becomes UNICEF Ambassador

Model, beauty queen and humanitarian Halima Aden's life cup is overflowing with Gaia's bounty. 

"I was the first Muslim homecoming queen at my high school, the first Somali student senator at my college, and the first hijab-wearing woman in many places, like the Miss Minnesota USA beauty pageant, the runways of Milan and New York fashion weeks, and even on the historic cover of British Vogue," she explained in a recent (but not yet posted) TED Talk she gave at Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya — another first, both for her and for TED, as it was the first talk streamed from a refugee camp in the program's history. But the visit also held a special significance for Halima, as it marked the first time she had returned to Kakuma after moving to the United States at age 7.

Kenyan Artist Tahir Brings Visions Of Nairobi'S Jua Kali Economy To Brooklyn, NY

Kenyan Artist Tahir Brings Vision's Of Nairobi Jua Kali Economy To Brooklyn, NY

Lupita Nyong'o Steps Up To Save Africa's Elephants

Lupita Nyong'o Steps Up To Save Africa's Elephants As WildAid Global Ambassador

AOC loved Lupita before she won an Oscar. But to open an email from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, where we support orphan elephants, and read that the stellar woman Lupita was there — as evidenced in this magnificent photo — brought tears to our eyes.

In addition to joining WildAid on behalf of elephants, Lupita will be promoting women’s causes, acting and the arts in her native Kenya. She also visited Amboseli National Park and filmed public service messages for international distribution in Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, China, Hong Kong, Thailand and the United States.

TUSIMAME Song Says 'Stand Up' For African Elephants As New York Crushes A Ton of Ivory

TUSIMAME Song Says ‘Stand Up’ For African Elephants As New York Crushes A Ton of Ivory

TUSIMAME’ ‘is a powerhouse song about saving Africa’s elephants. It brings together talented artists including South Sudan’s Emmanuel Jal, Tanzania’sVanessa Mdee, Congo’s Syssi Managa and Juliani Kenya. 

Eunice Akoth From The Kibera School For Girls Inspires At NYC Women in the World Conference

Eunice Akoth From The Kibera School For Girls Inspires At NYC Women in the World Conference

Activists & Masai Warriors Join Forces To End Female Genital Mutilation

Activists & Masai Warriors Join Forces To End Female Genital Mutilation

3. The famous Masai men are acclaimed for being feared and accomplished warriors.  Pictured here, Ole Lelein Kanunga, the leader of young Masai tribal warriors in Entasopia, “a lush oasis of trees and pasture in the otherwise desert flats of this part of southern Kenya”, says that in the month of December, circumcisions will end.You see, December is the month when girls are cut in Kenya, a rite of passage that often results in their not returning to the classroom and marrying instead, with babies on the way.

This article is unique in articulating the primary reason for FGM/FGC — which is NOT prescribed in Islam, although most people believe it is. Experts in the field know that it is a tribal custom — one advocated by men to keep women from ‘straying’.

Masai warriors believe it keeps their wives “off heat” and uninterested in sex, therefore faithful while they are off in the bush for months on end hunting, raiding and fighting.

Kenya's Cattle Trade For Girl's Education | Malala Donates $50,000 To Rebuild Schools In Gaza

Kenya’s Cattle Trade For Girl’s Education | Malala Donates $50,000 To Rebuild Schools In Gaza

In Kenya, One Woman's 'Good Life' Is Irrationally Hacked to Bits

In Kenya, One Woman’s ‘Good Life’ Is Irrationally Hacked to Bits

Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner In Death Reminds Us: Be A Hummingbird

Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize Winner In Death Reminds Us: Be A Hummingbird

Kenyan environmentalist and 2004 Nobel Peace Prize winner Wangari Maathai died late Sunday from cancer. At 71, Mrs Maathai was one of the most widely respected women in Africa, wearing many hats as an environmentalist, feminist, politician, rabble-rouser, human rights advocate and head of the Green Belt Movement.

'The Places We Live': Four Monumental Slums Typify 'Home' for More Than One Billion People

‘The Places We Live’: Four Monumental Slums Typify ‘Home’ for More Than One Billion People

In 2008, for the first time in human history, more people lived in cities than in rural areas. One-third of these urban dwellers—more than one billion people—resided in slums. That number is expected to rise substantially: the United Nations forecasts that the number of slum dwellers will double to two billion people within the next 25 years. Poverty is urbanizing at breakneck speed, and there are few overarching plans to address how cities can accommodate this rapid influx of humans.

Photographers JR & Jonas Bendiksen | Artistry in Kibera, Kenya

JR ‘s “Women Are Heroes” Kibera, Kenya

NOWNESS, Louis Vuitton’s culture website Tweeted JR’s “Women Are Heroes” project just now, featuring photos from Kibera, located in Nairobi, Kenya.

We’ve written extensively about this inspiring, global project and only recently connected it to Jonas Bendiksen’s widely-read stories at Anne of Carversville: ‘The Places We Live”: Four Monumental Slums Typify ‘Home’ for More than One Billion People.

Bendiksen photographs Kibera from another angle than JR.

We found ourselves in Kibera for another reason, wanting to learn more about the so-called “flying toilets” of Kibera. If you require translation, a “flying toilet” consists of human waste put into a plastic bag and tossed into the air, landing on roads or in gutters.

The photographs of both JR and Jonas Bendiksen bring the “flying toilets” of Kibera into sharp focus.

In Paris All Eyes are on "Women are Heroes"

In Paris All Eyes are on “Women are Heroes”

We have two “Women are Heroes” videos, one is a 90-minute documentary with the women’s voices and stories and another six-minute short of JR’s team at work, mounting the pictures in a city and the photographer explaining the concepts behind the project.