Chanukah girls

A project that uses radioprogrammes with outreach and online social networking to create a learning platform for girls in three slum areas of Nairobi, Kenya. Chanuka! is Nairobi street lingo for empowerment. It is generally recognized that girls living in slums and rural areas are among the most marginalized section of communities in the world. It is estimated that nearly 60% of primary school age children not enrolled in school are girls, dropping out of school gives a girl 90% chance of living in poverty, 70,000 maternal deaths a year are adolescent girls and that 36% of all global marriages are girl child marriages.

Often the struggle by girls to make it out of poverty is hindered by lack of education and access to information on opportunities available to them to improve their lives. They are not well informed about education opportunities, financial aid, training opportunities and lack of information on issues such as reproductive health leaves them exposed to early pregnancy and disease that often arrests their ambitions. It is critical to provide the girls with relevant information that will increase their self-belief and confidence thus leading to their empowerment.