GBVA Mission on a Curfew Night!

 A Significant Change Story by Benjamin Washitakaya     

In July 2020 during COVID pandemic first wave, a daughter of one of my neighbours went out in the morning to pick something from school, this girl remained away from home until very late. At around 8 pm the mother of this girl called me and told me “my daughter is not home and someone told me that she could be in a certain house”. At 8 pm it was already curfew time in Kenya, but I had to do something fast, to support this mother, to find her daughter, and bring her back home safely. Knowing that this mother could not reach that house, and being aware of the need to report this case to the police, I decided to call a taxi (with my wife's financial support) to take me to the police in Shianda with the mother. We reported the case and with the police instructions, we went to the community to reach out to the girl. We found the girl locked in a house with a boy. We brought them back to the police, and the girl explained to the police how she was forced to that house. From that point, the mother and the police were able to handle the case.   
I spent 1000 Shilling that night, but at least I was sure I saved a child from being a victim of GBV. 
I acted in this way due to the training I’ve received as a GBV Ambassador. Now when I hear about any situation in the community, especially affecting young girls, I act. Before I didn't know how to approach the administration, but now after learning the procedures, I know the system and I can report, I am able to do it myself.    

Benjamin Washitakaya joined Wefoco in 2019 as a member of Khunyiri Youth Women Group, he has been an active member since and is currently the secretary of the group. In the same year, he joined the pioneer group of Wefoco Gender-Based Violence Ambassadors (GBVA). A program developed under the Mondo EUAV SUDHAV2 program to build the capacity of Wefoco groups to prevent and reduce GBV in their communities. Within this program, Benjamin received training on GBV issues and participated in activism actions for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. 
Mondo EUAV SUDHAV3 program is allowing the Wefoco GBVA to carry on their learning on gender issues and supporting them to raise awareness in more communities about women's rights and gender equality. 
If you want to support the activities of the Gender-Based Violence Ambassadors in Kenya visit: Mondo Womens-Fund .

MSC - Most significant change - is a form of participatory monitoring and evaluation that involves the collection of significant change (SC) stories emanating from the field level.  Staff and stakeholders are involved in reading and discussing the collected stories, understanding the value of the changes, and providing further feedback on the project's impact on the field level.  

Stories are being collected by the EUAV from WEFOCO field volunteers' experience (the GBVA), to introduce them into the approach, aiming that they can be more comfortable, later on, collecting stories from the community.