Wajir girls return to school thanks to cash support programme
The statement by the council on the programme states girls who were out of school when it started were receiving Sh9,000 over four payments and in-school girls received Sh4,500 over two payments.
Fatuma Ahmed 13, a grade 6 pupil at Leheley Primary School in Wajir is among hundreds of girls in Wajir County who enrolled back to school after dropping out at Grade 4 through the initiative of Adolescent Girls Initiative - Kenya programme.
Fatuma, an orphan, dropped out of school to support her mother in household duties as she walked every morning to the nearby market to sell vegetables for a living.
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The programme that came with incentives of cash transfer to her family after they were identified as vulnerable, helped her return to school.
According to her, the incentive was enough for her mother to set up a kiosk within their home compound.
"The incentive is enough for our family since we also received school kits containing sanitary pads, underwear, soap and basic school supplies," she claimed.
Fatuma said returning to school also saved her from early marriage since she would be concentrating on her studies.
The Adolescent Girls Initiative-Kenya (AGI-K) programme by the Population Council of Kenya in partnership with the County Government of Wajir aims to keep girls in school, prevent child marriage and delay adolescent pregnancy across 120 villages in Wajir county.
Positive impact
According to the council, an evaluation conducted after the implementation of phase 1 of the four-year programme revealed a positive impact.
They said the study tested three packages on Community Conversation groups that focused on inequitable gender norms and the value of girls' education implemented by Community Health Assistants, coupled with girls' empowerment groups covering health, life skills and financial education curricula implemented by community health volunteers and cash transfer.
The statement by the council on the programme states girls who were out of school when it started were receiving Sh9,000 over four payments and in-school girls received Sh4,500 over two payments.
"After 16 months the evaluation results showed that half of the girls who were out of school in the packages with the cash incentives were enrolled in school," said the council.
Expansion
The council further stated that the AGI-K programme is still being implemented at a small scale in Wajir county as the council and partners explore how to support a full scale in Wajir and expansion to additional counties in Kenya with similar levels of school enrolment, child marriage and adolescent pregnancy.
Wajir Deputy Governor Ahmed Muhumed who on Tuesday received a delegation from the council led by their president Dr Rana Hajjeh highlighted how the implementation of the programme yielded a positive result in increasing girls' school enrolment in Wajir county.
North Eastern Director of Education Aden Roble during an interview on gender disparity at his office. (Photo: Issa Hussein)
"Through targeted incentives such as safe space meetings for adolescent girls, community conversations and cash stipends, the program realised an increase in school enrolment and retention for adolescent girls," he said.
He said the programme had successfully reached 100 villages across the county and effective from January 2025, a scale-up plan is in place to reach more than 20 villages in the county.
Wajir County was among the North Eastern counties, including Mandera and Garissa that recorded the highest male representation in the 2024 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examination.
Of the 962,512 candidates who sat the exams, 480,310 were boys, while 482,202 were girls, marking the first time since the inception of KCSE that female candidates outnumbered males.
Education CS Julius Ogamba announced that Mandera, Garissa, and Wajir counties led with the most male-dominated candidature, registering 63.83 per cent, 62.83 per cent, and 60.27 per cent male candidates, respectively.
Other counties with significant male representation included Turkana, Samburu, Narok, and Homabay counties
North Eastern Director for Education Aden Roble said efforts were made to reduce the widening gap of gender disparity in the region where girl enrolment remained low.
He expressed optimism about improvement compared to years back when he said the situation was alarming in the region.
"We are noticing improvement due to public awareness and support from state departments, non-governmental organisations and donor partners that are committed towards girls enrolment and retention in schools.
In an interview with The Eastleigh Voice at his office, he attributed the gender disparity being a result of poverty, the deep-rooted cultural belief that girls belonged at home for household duties and the community preference to educate a boy child more than girls whom they believe that she would no longer be part of the family after marriage.
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