Kitui County Affirmative Action Fund is supporting 50 girls, who dropped out of school due to teenage pregnancies and early marriage, to access education.
The Fund has issued bursaries to the affected girls and taken them back to school to enable them realise their dreams that were cut short.
Speaking to The Informer on Wednesday at Migwani, County Coordinator for National Government Affirmative Action Fund (NGAAF) Florence Mwova said they have taken 40 girls back to school and the remaining ten will be joining Form One this year.
“It is an uphill task trying to convince a husband to allow his wife, who has since given birth five times, to go back to school. Nevertheless, some husbands have been cooperative with the affirmative action initiative to empower their wives academically,’ said Ms Mwova.
She said that through education, many households will be able to break the shackles of poverty adding that a household whose mother is empowered academically have been able to rise above the poverty index.
“A notable case is that of Florence Nyaanya, a mother of five, who is currently in Form Two at Nzuli Secondary School in Migwani. She has been topping her class since she joined the school last year,’ observed Ms Mwova.
In Migwani, the Fund handed over of Sh 1.16 million to 12 self-help groups and 99 water tanks to each household with a view to build their resilience to provide clean water.
“We are giving the tanks to help household beneficiaries tap rain water to mitigate the challenges of water borne diseases,’ said the NGAAF Coordinator.
She said that the tanks will reduce the amount of time wasted in search of the scarce commodity and in turn transfer this time to engage in income generating activities.
Ms Mwova observed that with water availability within the homestead, communities can grow their resilience through their involvement is small-scale irrigation such as owning a kitchen garden.
“If the beneficiaries are able to grow their own vegetables, they will not spend resources on the same commodities but rather expand their horizon to engage in other activities beneficial to them,’ she added.
The County Coordinator said that they are also funding value addition programmes where groups have been funded to start poultry farming, own a posho mill, buy milk goats among others.
The NGAAF has supplied over 1,000 water tanks with a capacity of 2, 500 litres under the patronage of Kitui Women MP Nyiva Mwendwa.
On bursaries, Ms Mwova said that during the first quarter the fund released Sh 5 million to support needy and bright students pursue secondary and tertiary education.
“We have allocated Sh 10 million for the second tranche of bursary allocation across the county to be issued in due course,” she disclosed.
Nzatani Location Senior Chief Erastus Maluki challenged women to ensure that the Fund is used for the intended purpose.