KENYA WOMEN TEACHERS ASSOCIATION (KEWOTA)
The Kenya Women Teachers Association (KEWOTA) is a welfare organization that enhances the living standards of women in the teaching profession by providing avenues for professional, economic, and personal development.
The Kenya Women Teachers Association was first registered in 2007. KEWOTA was founded by women teachers who wanted a strategic community to bring together women working in the education sector, and deliberate on ways to address and advocate for their needs, specific to the female gender, and to provide an avenue for women teachers to grow professionally, economically and personally.
Over the years, KEWOTA has grown to be the most vibrant teachers association in the country. With over 80,000 members across the country, the Kenya Women Teachers Association in pursuit of its core mandate has supported thousands of women teachers and young girls, coordinated major change driven programs and partnered with industry leaders locally and internationally.
Some notable achievements of KEWOTA include leading digital transformation through a partnership with the Estonian Government that provided KEWOTA members with an opportunity to own laptops equipped with digital textbooks of the current curriculum, online career services and access to online courses. KEWOTA members with Laptops are also able to earn extra income through a program called Roodito, that allows teachers to do online tutoring work and earn directly through the program. The organisation has also partnered with directline insurance to offer low cost health and life insurance policies for women teachers, ranging from 1000 Shillings (7 USD) per year. KEWOTA also provides low interest microfinance services to its members to support economic growth. KEWOTA has also sponsored several women teachers to further their studies up to phd levels, built houses for teachers, granted water tanks to hundreds of teachers and supported SMEs. The organisation has a table banking program that runs in counties (Chamas for women teachers). The program runs just like any other Chama for women, and so far reports show over Ksh 8,000,000 (60,000 USD) in circulation, with some counties buying land, cattle and others running bee-keeping businesses.
As women working in the teaching profession, we envision a future of boundless development opportunities for every woman teacher in Kenya.
The leaders of the Kenya Women Teachers Association have made it their daily mission to provide integrated support to women teachers for professional growth and economic development.
We have devolved our objectives to the following services tailored for women teachers in Kenya;
1. Women’s rights advocacy
2. Decent and dignified exit from service
3. Career development
4. Involvement in effective policy decision making
5. Development projects
6. Leadership
7. Mentorship and sponsorship
8. Ending FGM, teenage pregnancies and early marriages
9. GBV advocacy
10. Maternal health
11. Empowerment of the girlchild.
12. Gender representation: working with male teachers.
Women’s rights advocacy
KEWOTA ensures organizations re-evaluate their promotion and succession plans to ensure everyone has access to the same advancement opportunities without blackmail or intimidation.
Dignified retirement
KEWOTA provides capacity building and training programs for women teachers that ensure they retire with dignity through enhanced life skills, investment and support with clean water, universal health cover and habitable houses.
Career development
Empowering women teachers to increase their job satisfaction through diversifying and other decision making positions in unions and public service
Involvement in effective policy decision making
KEWOTA facilitates and increases the contributions of women teachers to national welfare matters, by creating networks among women teachers to strengthen connections, cooperation and collaboration, nationally, regionally and internationally.
Investments and development projects
KEWOTA coordinates and supports projects which promote women’s economic empowerment and equality. Such projects include the water tank projects,decent housing, Kewota Shared Services, among others.
Leadership
The Kenya Women Teachers Association creates a space for all women teachers in Kenya to meet in a place of their own to network and share information to encourage debates on issues of public welfare especially those affecting women teachers and their families.Such issues include capacity building of women teachers as regional peace ambassadors, women teacher volunteers and nationally integrated exchange programs that bridge the ethnicity gaps.
Mentorship and sponsorship
KEWOTA does capacity building for women to consider enforcing formal programs to encourage mentorship, sponsorship and overall support system regardless of gender. This alleviates alienation of junior staff from senior and more experienced staff.
Ending FGM, teenage pregnancies and early marriages
It is estimated that 140 million girls become brides between 2011 and 2020 (UNAMID). Such girls who marry before the age of 18 years are typically denied of education, at risk of complications related to premature child bearing and more vulnerable to intimate partner violence. The Kenya Women Teachers Association has developed programs which prevent this.
GBV advocacy
KEWOTA provides women teachers with education and counselling on domestic violence and its effects on them and their family 1 In 3 women experience physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Whether its domestic violence, rape or sexual trafficking, gender based violence denies far too many women the opportunity to live happy, healthy and fulfilling lives. Many women teachers suffer in silence because of societal stigma. KEWOTA sources for support from like minded partners and like -minded organizations to train women teachers representatives as paralegals to assist other women and to seek support for probono legal council.
Maternal health and reproductive rights
Helping women take charge of their baby making process reduces unsafe abortions and maternal deaths. Maternal health education reduces pregnancy related deaths among women which usually occur from preventable causes.
Empowerment of the girlchild.
This is achieved through advocacy for:
Increase in Access to education
Skill development for the out of school girls and boys
Organised internship programs for skilled youths for employment opportunities.
Empowering women to earn their fair share of income
Gender representation: working with male teachers.
KEWOTA develops and enhance honest conversations, brainstorming and interaction between male and female peers to help organizations on their journey of gender fairness.
Gender equality in the workplace symbolizes unity and harmony which is unobtainable without the input and help of our male counterparts while many men support gender diversity, they are understandably unaware of the biases and issues women face daily.