Grace* (not her real name), is 16 years old, and a form 3 student, at Uhuru Kenyatta Secondary School in Mwihoko ward -Kiambu. She’s also one of the little sisters who has benefited from the SAFIRE program. Through Big Sister sessions,Grace now understands why she has to wait until she is mature enough to engage in sexual relationships. She says, “A man/boy who claims that they love me should understand that No means No. Disrespecting my NO is a violation of my right’ ‘. She has since stopped non-consensual sexual relationships whereby before attending Big Sister sessions she found it difficult to say “No” to sexual advances from boys. Grace’s grades have improved and is amongst a school peer counseling team that shares information on sexuality with her peers. Due to her good behavior and mentorship, she has been appointed the Head Girl for 2021.
CSA attended the SAFIRE Learning Summit which was held from 8 to 11 of February 2021 at Eka Hotel, Eldoret, Uasin Gishu County. The summit was attended by the consortium partners and the implementing partners. The summit aimed to distill and share learnings from across the three work streams of the Integrated Delivery Model identifying what works, what is not working, and emerging issues or innovations that might be important to include in the design and implementation of the program. Responding to this, the goal was to seek consensus from across the consortium on priority areas of adaptation in the programme design and delivery approaches, linking them to upcoming work planning and budgeting processes. Voices from CSA big sisters and champions were also aired through a short video that captured their insights on various areas including best practices, areas of adaptation, and areas of improvement.
