“Disempowering oneself is a key means to empower others”

After 2 months break in Portugal, I am now back in Shianda ready to start a new adventure with a new project! This time I will be supporting WEFOCO on their gender and education programs.

 

Today I am preparing a small presentation for the local organization on participatory approaches. It is amazing to see the amount of knowledge that I have gained in the past months within these deployments. I’ve been searching online on evidence-based approaches to work in the development field and I found really interesting materials that allow me to feel more confident in the work I develop as a volunteer.

As I read into one of the approaches: the Citizen-Lead Approach (CLA) I find this sentence that I choose to title this post: “Disempowering oneself is a key means to empower others”. When I first jump into the possibility of working in the Gender field, I was nervous because of my lack of experience in this area.

But the truth is when we are motivated and willing to learn, the learning process happens naturally. And this is the attitude I want to bring to this project “Disempowering myself to empower others”, I am no expert in Kenyan culture or on gender issues... but I am someone that wants to build together with these women and men a safer, free and more equitable society for all.

 

This is the attitude I want to keep throughout the project, working together for the same goal, involving the local community from the beginning and allowing them to build this project according to their needs and in mutual agreement. Finding answers for the questions that may arise and solution for the challenges within the local community structures.

 

I can’t tell what is going to happen, because the plan will be built up within this process. But I am sure we will have a lot of fun! And that I will learn a lot!

 

Excited to see how the project will unfold in the next months...

 

as we always say in Shianda “Let’s See...!”